


Mirrorstuck

by GedankenTheory



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angry Strifing, Blood, Denizens - Freeform, Fluff and Angst, Forests and Mushrooms, I'll add some more tags/characters with more chapters, M/M, Magic, Mayor WV, Minor Violence, Monsters, POV Multiple, Post-War, Sadstuck, Salamanders, Shadows - Freeform, Split Dimension, Spooky Mirrors, reflections
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-04
Updated: 2014-04-12
Packaged: 2017-12-25 14:58:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 30,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/954482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GedankenTheory/pseuds/GedankenTheory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You reach out and touch it, expecting the sensation of cold glass against your fingertip. The surface ripples and shimmers. You step back with a cry of surprise, staring first at your hand, then at the mirror in turn. Had you just imagined that? The mirror hadn’t just rippled like water, had it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. ==> Dave: Leave the Debris

Blood trickled down, pooling about the floor.

It was like a fucking swamp of blood, and you had made it.

You flick the crimson liquid off of your arm in disgust.

Dancing around death, it was as easy as baking worm-infested pie as you boogied to indie music.

You step away from the curled up corpse, raising your head and exhaling. There were other places to be. This one hadn’t revealed any further information.

Familiar pain blossoms in your shoulder blades and you grit your teeth and ball your hands into fists. You fight past it, not letting the damned agony train go screeching on by with you as the passenger. You’d already went through this enough times to know how to deal with it. A breath, a closing of eyes, and it was gone.

You turn and walk away, your shoes splashing through the mess that you had created.

It was disgusting. But, that was how the circle of fucking life went. You’d be the shaded killer and the pack of hyenas would bow and shake, waiting to be ripped apart and left for dead.

_‘Dave!’_ Another familiarity echoes but, this time, it was resounding in your head. _‘Dave, can you hear me?’_

_‘Sup, Jade?’_

As soon as your silent response reaches her, a flood of relief comes flowing through your connection like an overfull river. _‘Oh, good! I thought – No, never mind. Um, we got trouble.’_

You quirk a brow. _‘We got winged monkeys on our tail?’_

A quick flash of Jade’s amusement patters down over your mental link. _‘No, uh, Hephaestus’ sleep was disturbed; he’s waking up.’_

_‘Oh goodie. Is a race to the great and almighty fire-breather, needed?’_

_‘No, no, it’s just…’_ An audible sigh flutters through your mind from her end. _‘It – it’s like there’s something bothering him. … There’s something wrong anyway. I can’t exactly pinpoint what it is but, it disturbed him from his slumber.’_

You side-step a pool of blood. _‘Must be something related in some way to the Horrorterrors to have the grand wyrm rising from his sleep.’_

_‘That’s the thing – it isn’t.’_

_‘Oh?’_ You head over to the door, kicking it open and slipping through the gap just as the splintered wood comes crashing back against its hinges.

_‘It’s like… a feeling, a weird one.’_

_‘Weird as in: whoa, is that wall talking to me? Or, goddamn that egg has a weird face, it looks like Bob Marley.’_

You can just picture her snorting and trying her best not to laugh. _‘Noo, neither. It’s – it’s like – well, an uncomfortable vibe. That’s all I can really describe it as. It’s kinda hard, seeing as how I can’t really put my finger on what it is properly.’_

_‘Yo, I get it. So, what, you want me to keep an eye out for a weird egg-faced anomaly?’_

_‘Uh, something like that.’_

_‘Will do. Got shit to take care of so, ollie outin’.’_

_‘Seeya later, cool-dude.’_

You can feel the connection between you weaken, and then phase out altogether.

“Weird vibe, huh?” you mutter. “As if that will be easy to spot out from a mile off.”

Well, she is a witch. Maybe she could just throw herself into a connection with you later, if you were to stumble across this weird factor. It… intrigued you but, not by much. There were other things you needed to take care of first.

Turning away from the house, you shove your hands into your pockets and begin the journey back across the empty field of blue grass. Afternoon was just rolling around, so there’d be plenty of time to just meander about before setting off on the long walk through midnight-estate. You preferred to travel by dark. The dawn and midday ruined any kind of surprise attack you might have in stock for those unaware.

Not that you were constantly in strife mode. It didn’t really suit you. Bro was more for that. But, he wasn’t here. You’d be goddamn taken by surprise if he did somehow magically turn up, like ‘Yo, got stuck in ghostly traffic, they were taking up all the road’ or something like that. You wouldn’t put it past him.

A cold breeze is settling in, the distant shrieks alerting you to the possibility of encountering a group of things that weren’t all that intelligent, yet were still in the clear for being totally annoying. They would take too much time up. You would rather steer clear of them. And so, you change course, leaving the blood-stained house with its short-stack of a garden far behind you, taking to the undergrowth, where crystallized trees and bushes reigned supreme instead.

Those stupid storks of air would never be able to reach you in such a green-filled environment, well, bluish green… Orangy yellow, whatever. There are lots of colours here, too many to bother pointing out in one sitting. You decide to relax a bit, striding over to casually sit down beneath the dimming shadow of a particularly large tree. You have to admit, their bark’s a bit uncomfortable to lean against but, it’s better than flopping down amongst extra uncomfortable crystallized grass. That always sucked.

You sigh, glancing up to the sky above. How long will it take before the sun decides it’s had enough of dancing around in the sky? It needs to get its sleeping cap on and go the fuck to sleep already.

You rest your head against the trunk of the tree, shifting a little to try to get as comfortable as possible. It’s nearly impossible considering that bits of the bark are already poking you in the back but, you soon find the most comfy position that you’ll ever have the second chance of getting. So, you just stick with it.

As you rest, you retrieve your sword from its confines in your Xedallys. You wipe off the rest of the blood staining it with a rolled up sleeve, then streak that crimson liquid across the crystal ground. It wasn’t like anyone really needed it now anyway.

You turn the sword over in your grasp, checking it for any signs of scratches, or wears-and-tears. The metal reflects your face back to you and, just for a moment, you catch the sight of something made of shadows staring back at you. You blink; it vanishes. “All aboard the crazy train,” you murmur turning it over again. You captchalogue it soon after, tilting one corner of your lip downwards in thought.

What would be the best course of action from here on out? Travel around the shrieking air-balloons that circle above the typically travelled path now, or rest first? The former seemed more appealing. You doubt you’d be able to sleep through crunches of earth and leaves and the uncomfortable backrest you were currently leaning against.

It was just a matter of waiting for the sun to set.


	2. ==> John: Be Grumpy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why are you always confined to the house?!

You’re mad. No, you’re absolutely furious! Why does Dad always have to stop you from going out unsupervised? It wasn’t as if you were thinking of going out anywhere dangerous! You were just going to go for a walk around the block! But, nope, no, he just keeps going on and on about how even that would be too perilous a task for his son alone! You snort, kicking your heels back again and again against the leg of your bed. You are perfectly capable of walking around on your own without being under the watchful eyes of your Dad, thank you very much!

You cross your arms with a huff, pouting. It wasn’t as if you were going to go _that_ far away, anyway.

And now Dad has you locked up in the house, leaving you to mope about and languish from the boredom. Well, you’d show him! He may have stopped you from absconding from the house but, he’d never be able to take away your freedom! You get to your feet in one fell swoop, raising your clenched fists up into the air in a triumphant way. You wouldn’t be beat. You’ll find a way out of this!

But first, you need some provisions. Equipment, as you will refer to them as, for this expedition of stealthiness and creeping.

You’re absolutely positive that Dad has just left, and you zip over to the window to double-check. Yup, he’s gone off for some more cake mix or something just as equally bluh. You make a face; just thinking about any of those horrible baked goods makes you feel queasy.

Stepping back away from the window, you turn to face your magic chest of secrets. You walk over to it, crouching and pushing up the lid after releasing the latch. Inside you find all of your awesome pranking equipment; special tools for this all important stealth mission.

You scoop up an armful of them, avoiding Colonel Sassacre’s Daunting Text of Magical Frivolity and Practical Japery for now. You could always consult with it later, though the text is a nightmare to skim through. Dumping your prized prankster collection on the floor, you sit down and begin to sift through them. The beagle puss glasses could be used as a disguise, though you don’t know how long it would keep your Dad from recognizing you if he was to come back early (you approximate his shopping time to be around forty minutes, or so, yup, he usually takes his time when it comes to shopping for cake ingredients).

You have a pack of cards but, you don’t think they’d work in any way shape or form, so you just leave them for now. Aha! Itching powder! That’d definitely be useful. Now, if only you had an exploding cigar… But, then again, Dad gave them up ages ago for a pipe. Although, you could always carefully remove the explosive chargey-thing and place it in his pipe, hehehe.

You captchalogue the itching powder, along with the beagle puss glasses. The stack fetchamacallit is kind of a difficult thing to use still, even after all of these months. You’d change it for something else but, you’re not sure how. Is it even possible? You don’t know.

As the pair of items, no, your tools, are stored away, you quickly shove the rest of the things back in the magic chest. You look through the rest of your things in hopes of finding an exploding cigar but, you turn up with nothing.

Mentally listing that as a thing to get for pranking awesomeness at a later date, you straighten up and hurry over to the door.

Now begins the real adventure!

Which actually starts off kind of boring really. You just open the door and are now facing the hall, decorated with those dumb harle-clowns. You scurry down the stairs, keeping your ears strained for any familiar screechy sound of Dad’s car returning.

As you make it to the front room, you find yourself facing something. Something odd.

A mirror.

It stands in the middle of the room facing the couch, silver and shiny; brand new. Had the old mirror broke or something? Why had Dad put it here?

Overcome by curiosity, you walk over to it, reaching out to poke the silver frame. It looks like it’s decorated in flames and are those lion feet? It has lion feet.

You circle around it to look at the back, then turn back around to the front. The mirror looks kind of misted over. You can see your reflection in it clearly but, there was a sort of weirdness to it that made you look oddly ghost-like. You chuckle as Ghostbusters comes to mind. Wouldn’t it be funny if your reflection turned into a Slimer-lookalike? But, it was just a mirror. Nothing magical about it at all.

You grin at your reflection, brushing some of your messy black hair away from your eyes, then pull a face at your mirror image. It copies you, sticking out its tongue and you laugh. You stop, however, when you catch the sight of something blurred and shadow-like behind your reflection. You glance behind you but, there’s nothing there. Frowning, you look back to the mirror and step closer. What is that thing?

You squint at it. Whatever it is, it still looks the same, even when you lean in closer and stand on your tiptoes trying to make out what it is. You think to poke it.

You reach out and touch it, expecting the sensation of cold glass against your fingertip. The surface ripples and shimmers. You step back with a cry of surprise, staring first at your hand, then at the mirror in turn. Had you just imagined that? The mirror hadn’t just rippled like water, had it? It was supposed to be solid, right?

You suddenly feel uneasy. This couldn’t be right. But, you abruptly start battling it out with a heavy block of curiosity and intrigue. You poke the mirror again; the middle point of your reflection distorting with the shimmer. You pause and chew at your bottom lip in thought.

What would happen if you were to suddenly jump on through it? Would you be spat back out here again? Would the mirror just solidify before you could jump through?

What would Dad think?

You breathe in deeply and let it out in one big puff of air. He’s left you locked up in the house with only the harle-clown pictures and the ticking of a clock somewhere for company. And you’re still mad at him. Revenge, sneak-stealth mode? Or an investigation of this thing that might possibly get rid of your building boredom?

Your brain cuts away that part of your mental sentence and displays it in large blocky letters in the forefront of your mind; get rid of your boredom. It was one of the most interesting and strangest of things you’d ever come across. It’s kind of odd how it’s here and not upstairs but, your Dad was probably in a rush to get some of those horrible ingredients that helps to concoct the evil baked foodstuffs. A broad grin slowly crosses your face. You could hop in this odd portaly, shimmery thingy and Dad would never be the wiser.

Maybe it could get you out of the house!

“Hehehe, this is perfect!” you say aloud.

Before you have a chance to think it over some more, you’re already stepping back and preparing to charge right in. You’ll look like some kind of cool superhero or something. Without another thought, you rush forward and dive in; your thoughts on the shadow already forgotten in the excitement.


	3. ==> Rose: Cease Meditating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The storms never seem to have an end.

The stacatto of rain against the roof is a constant familarity. To some, the deluge may be considered to be a bad thing but, to you it is a reassurance. Without it you’d feel uncomfortable. It was possible that it was just to do with the fact that you’d rarely ever had a day without it. Although, there was that individual detail that the droplets of rain did sound pleasing to the ears. Still, the mansion felt empty. Hollow, without the dissonant company of your Mother. But, there was little that could be done about that. She had found her own way along the many twisting, turning paths, and you had stayed to live out the traditions of the Seer.

A sigh escapes your lips and you open your eyes. To be honest, it was getting kind of dull just sitting here in a meditative position. The rain may help to keep your thoughts clear but, the coming storm would cease such functions the instant the lightning and thunder growled and rumbled their way across the sky. You stand up and brush down your skirt. In the time that Mom had been gone, dust had accumulated about the house. You should probably deal with that but, you’d rather leave Mom’s prized vacuum alone. It was gathering just as much dust.

It was just a matter of knowing what to do with yourself now. With no point in furthering the meditation period, you might as well roam the many dark corridors of your home. That, or get something to eat. You’re getting kind of hungry. Well then, food first, then you can move on to aimless wandering.

You make your way to the kitchen, listening as the rain picks up; the soothing regular beats now a surge of drumming noise. The lightning and thunder wouldn’t be much longer in coming.

The kitchen lights flicker on. You walk over to the fridge. You had been sure to prepare something for later, which was actually now. A chicken sandwich, to be exact.

You open the fridge door, feeling a rush of nostalgia at seeing the lack of snide-fueled notes from your Mother, and take your self-made sandwich from the shelf, closing the door shortly afterwards. Lightning hits as you head back over to the exit, the darkened room illuminated briefly before it falls back into the regular gloom; in that instant, you feel something that stops you dead. A sense - something off.

It falls like a veil over your vision and, for a moment, you reach out in an effort to understand it. Undescribeable emotions fill you and you hear the momentary whispering of the otherworldly Horrorterrors. It’s over before you can fully grasp at it, frustration wells up inside you. Quickly, you re-establish your hold over your emotions, pulling them back in to ponder secretly over the swift visionary glimpse you’d just had the joy to behold. Your expression is now set into a grim line.

There was something powerful to that apparition but, it was too vague a process to thoroughly comprehend; something about mirrors. Of that, you were certain.

Contemplating it still as you walk along, you almost forget that you’re holding a sandwich. You glance at it, then take a bite, your mind mulling over the dark haze and the flicker of a reflection. Blue, there had been an aura of blue.

The more you thought it over, the more things started to fit together. It was like an incredibly intricate puzzle, the minute pieces hard to place, yet an accomplishment once you set them in the right location. Still, there was an awful lot to sort out. You could not understand the grumblings of the Horrorterrors, it was a task to even pull apart a single verb within their incomprehensible language. So, there was no point in trying. However, you could focus upon the mirror and the reflection.

The cerulean colour had flashed within the confines of the glass, a figure, blurred but unmistakeable – a human. The image did not sport the horns of a troll. Now, you were getting somewhere.

You walk over and sit down on the couch, munching on the sandwich as you stare into the crackling flames of the fireplace.  It had been a new edition to the house for quite a while now, a… gift of sorts from Mom. Not that you cared for it much but, it did prove to keep you warm during the colder months.

However, you were starting to focus on the warm temperature of the room and that was not what you were after. You needed to focus fully on the vision.

Lightning and thunder rumbled somewhere close by, your mind brought away fleetingly from your ponderings.

Blue, reflection, mirror… Of course! How could you have forgotten all about that old thing? You hop up, finishing off the rest of your sandwich before you turn away from the couch and make your way over to the stairs.

As you climb you chastise yourself quietly. That mirror had displayed some major similarities to the one featured within the apparition. If you hadn’t been so distracted by the storm and the fire, you might have noticed that connection sooner. Seer training was always in effect. It was a discipline in itself to remember and complete it to its fullest.

But, such a thing was for another time, there was little point on dwelling on your mistake for much longer.

You step onto the landing, turning your head to face the direction of Mom’s room. She had barely ever frequented it during the past couple of years, too often falling asleep in a slump on the couch or disappearing off somewhere to clean in her eccentric way. Which was one of the main reasons why you yourself often haunted her room, there was much to be found in this room, from the Transportalizer to the oddly misplaced mirror.

Yes, the mirror… It had come to be an odd heirloom of sorts to you and Mom. Not like your supposed guardian had ever gone into the specifics of it coming into her possession.

As you open the door, the creak enough to give your position away if Mother had still been a regular visitor of the mansion, the mirror glitters abnormally in the dull light. Curious, you step closer examining the glass and how it appeared somewhat distorted.

It had always been a fickle thing, never holding an impression of the landscape for too long in its reflection before it faded out to a metallic canvas. However, instead of displaying hills, or purple skies, it showed a figure.

It was at first blurry, but quickly began to form itself into a more recognizable shape.

Before you had the chance to even say such words as Abracadabra, a boy stumbled onto the carpet.

He lay where he fell for several moments, a goofy grin upon his features, then slowly, he got to his feet.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this blue-adorned boy was the very person revealed to you in the vision. In fact, in the couple of seconds it took for him to stand up fully and look around, you had already processed and connected quite a large number of dots to a very specific piece of mentally conjured paper.

This boy was from the world adjacent to this one.

As he turns to look at you, his large blue eyes widening in surprise, you give him a flicker of a smile. In the instant it took for his gaze to meet yours, you had his name.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, John.”


	4. ==> John: Adjust to Your Surroundings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was beginning to turn into one heck of a day.

This was awesome! This was absolutely, positively awesome!

It'd felt like you'd taken a trip on a rollercoaster (although you've never been on one but, you've dreamt of riding on them!) and whirled and twirled about through a bright silvery sea. It had come as a shock when you were abruptly tossed out to stumble and flop to the floor in a completely graceless fashion. Though, you felt like it was totally worth it.

You breathe in deeply and exhale loudly, waiting a few moments for your pulse to slow down. Seriously, that had been the coolest thing! It had taken your breath away and left you feeling a bit dizzy, but still! Slowly, you push yourself up into a sitting position, glancing at the white wall opposite you, then attempt to get to your feet.

Everything's kind of going on a slant but, that'll soon fade. You're sure of it.

As your eyes begin to re-adjust and you start to focus a little more on your surroundings, and less on the awesome ride here, you realize it's raining outside. No, more like storming. The room lights up and there's a boom of thunder. How you had missed that before, you don't know.

However, there's something beyond the storm and the unfamiliar room that you are now in.

There's this strong feeling that you're being watched.

You turn, your joy and wonder dissolving to make room for sudden apprehension. As your eyes meet that of purple, they grow wide.

A girl stands before you with her arms folded, staring back at you. She seemed to be smiling but, you couldn't really be sure in this dim light.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, John."

"I – uh, what?" you say, giving her a bewildered look. How does she know your name?

"You acquired a ride through the mirror, I see." Her gaze flickers from you to the mirror behind you and you end up looking back at it.

"… Yeah."

"I'm Rose Lalonde but, you may call me Rose."

You have no idea what's happening at the moment. There's a storm raging outside and you're currently having a one-sided conversation with a girl who says her name is Rose. And one that knows your name without having to ask for it, no less.

"I'm Jo-" No, idiot! She alreadys knows your name! "I mean, hi! How… do you know my name?"

"Let's just say, that an acquaintance told me your name in passing."

"Oh." Well, this was just as weird as jumping through a shimmering portally mirror thing. You are actually starting to have second thoughts of ever diving in it.

"Where… am I?" You let your gaze wander around the room momentarily, picking out a set of massive shelves set on either side of the door that looms behind Rose. There are also a couple of bottles on the counter that are jutting out from close to the right-hand shelf.

"A small-scale portion of the rest of my Mother's room or, to be more specific, my residence – the Lalonde mansion." She lets her arms drop back down to her sides, her gaze still set on you.

_This isn't all just a dream, right?_  … No, you have actually just jumped through a mirror and ended up here.

It just fully hits you now, and you don't know what to think. On one hand, this is way more exciting than being kept cooped up back inside the house but, on the other, it's bordering a bit on the strange side.

You're unsure of what to do next.

Maybe you should hurry, though. You're being stared at, and you're just standing on the spot like a dumb idiot.

"It's cramped in here," you say, the words falling from your lips before you fully realize you even said them.

"Yes, it is rather constraining in here. Perhaps we should leave." She turns and heads towards the door without a single glance back.

Well, that was… unexpected. You had thought that you'd both end up just chattering away here for some time or something. But, instead she was just walking out the door. You look back at the mirror for a moment, a brief instance of worry biting at your insides, then turn and follow after Rose.

She leads you downstairs and you find yourself taking in the surroundings of one of the most largest kind of buildings you've ever had the pleasure of stepping inside of (not that there had been that many besides your own house in the first place). From walking down a hallway, to trailing after her down the staircase; there was a lot to take in.

Art of wizards lined the walls, their colour lighting up the otherwise dull coloured spaces. As you hop down the final three steps, the paintings fall behind, replaced instead by one heck of a statue that stares impassively down at you. You shiver.

You hadn't realized it before but, it was kind of cold in here.

"You can sit by the fireplace, if you'd like to remain out of Zazzerpan's line of sight." Rose gestured over to a couch overlooking the aforementioned fireplace. You slowly sidestep out of the way of the wizard's stern gaze and head over to the couch. Immediately, the warmth hits you, and your chill begins to melt away.

As you sit down, Rose walks over to take a seat beside you. An awkward silence settles between the pair of you. You shuffle a little and lean back, your eyes on the fire.

It's cool being under the roof of someone else's house. It is even cooler to be able to talk face-to-face with someone that isn't your Dad, but you just feel like it's suddenly become… odd. Well, it had been odd in the first place. Like, how could she know your name right off the bat? It wasn't as if you and her have ever talked to one another before. Sure, she said she'd found that out from an 'associate' or whatever but, what did that even mean? Did someone else magically know about you from the start?

It wasn't as if you had many connections outside of the family. Dad was the only one to know your name and, maybe a couple of his friends too. … Had Dad or his friends told her about you?

No, that was ridiculous! She was on the opposite side of your mirror, right?

… That sounded pretty damn cool, actually.

"So, if you don't mind me asking; how did you find entrance to our realm?" Rose asked, turning to look at you.

"There was something odd in the reflection, so I poked it and the mirror did this shimmery thing. Then I jumped right on through." You are starting to get all excited again just talking about it. You flash a grin at Rose. "It was pretty cool. I mean, how often do you stumble across something like that?"

"Not often," Rose replied. "It is an incredibly rare occurance." She rests her hands upon her lap, her expression hard to read.

The storm is still howling away outside. It makes you wonder how long it has been going on for. To be honest, it adds a certain dark factor to the house. It looks like it is a regular thing here.

"It seems almost as if you were drawn to this place," Rose says in a quiet tone, cutting through your thoughts.

"What?" you say, shifting in your seat a little to look fully at her. Drawn to this place? "No, not really. There was just this option available out of staying and pranking my Dad, or going and investigating something new."

She shook her head but, remained silent.

She's weird.

Although, everything here seems kind of weird anyway. Who would want statues of wizards staring you down while you're munching on your breakfast in the morning? You definitely wouldn't. You already have enough stuff like that back at home with the harle-clown paintings.

"So, what's this place called?" you ask, swinging your legs.

"Gabrium," she replies. "It is similar in some aspects to the land that you originated from. Your whole world in fact, although there are… some differences."

Surprised, you shoot her a quizzical look. "How do you know about my world?"

Rose straightens a little, her hands still politely clasped in her lap. "I have seen it occasionally through your mirror's counterpart. It has a tendency to reveal that which transpires within other dimensions."

"Oh."

Dimensions, worlds… Wow, this was getting more and more cool as it went on! You are getting way too over-excited over the whole idea of this but, you don't care! You might have had your doubts before but this was now absolutely, positively awesome! Besides, the trip here was fun! Wouldn't that mean that this whole world will be fun to be in, too?

"So, your side of the mirror has a magicky power?" That's so sweet!

"In a sense. It was imbued with such qualities upon its creation. Although, that is debatable in itself, as it was brought into the possession of my household without the knowledge of such."

A flash of thunder lights up the inside of the house and, for a moment, it shos everything within the room in a brand new light. Then it's gone again, as quickly as it had come.

"This storm is relatively worse than the previous ones," Rose said, turning to look out of the window.

You take a look too, seeing a gloomy collection of trees and thick grass that sway in the breeze. It's too dark to tell exactly, but you're almost completely certain that those trees don't look like the regular kind of green. In fact, they don't look green at all, they look blue, or it could just be that your mind is playing tricks on you.

You blink and stare at them harder, squinting a little to try to discern whether what you're seeing is actually what you think you're seeing. Then your focus is pulled away by Rose, who stands up and glances once more to the window with a thoughtful expression before she turns away, looking instead to you.

"You said that you wish to investigate this world, correct?"

You nod enthusiastically. Yes, definitely yes.

"Then, I will show you. But, first, rest a while. I'm sure that trip through the mirror wasn't the most simple of feats."

You grin, joyful that she would even consider doing such a thing on your behalf. "That would be… awesome! Thanks!"

She nods, and you notice that she gives you a glimmer of a smile. "In the meantime, would you like something to drink?"


	5. ==> Dave: Find the Seer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A well of information isn't always that easy to find...

Shit, somehow you'd fallen asleep and now you were soaked through.

Sure, it was now dark enough to make even a zebra look like the stealthiest and sneakiest of ninjas but, you hadn't exactly wished for the storm.

In fact, you hadn't wanted it at all.

This would put a dampener on your plans… Pun unintended.

You sigh, glancing to the weapon you hold so tightly in your grasp.

It was as if your hold on it was on automatic. Anytime that you had ended up falling deep into slumberland, Caledscratch would just pop up within your hands, acting as your metallic, silver teddy bear during your unconscious ball through sleepsville.

You set it back in your strife deck, your mind already twirling through the motions of your daring adventure across the field.

So far, you have gotten nowhere in your quest for knowledge. But, that would soon change.

Once or twice you have actually contemplated going to ask the Denizens your barrage of questions but, obviously, if you did choose to go through with it, they would either snore on through them, or turn you into nothing more than a pile of ash adorned with shades.

No, you would need to find out what you sought from a witch, or maybe a Seer. Although, being as they were, it wouldn't be an easy feat in getting information out of them.

Stretching, you get to your feet, glancing about for any sign of possible adversaries before you commence in your fantastical journey once again.

The crystallized grass crunches beneath your feet, the remnants humming as they flicker to life; their glow illuminating the path behind you as you walk. If only they glowed naturally without having the need of being trampled on beforehand, then they'd prove quite useful throughout your forest trek.

Not that they would forever be a constant part of your wonderful surroundings. They cease to exist as soon as you step out from the crystal foliage and out onto the dusty path, free from the screeching buzzards that had been patrolling the sky those many hours before. The air is rife with the smell of fresh grass. A change from the mustiness that seems to spread upwards and outwards in the evening, probably a gift from the winged demons in their swooping endeavours.

Hills loom up from the horizon, shaded purple in the dimness. The land a wide expanse of looping, or winding lanes; pockmarked with worn-down statues and old forgotten buildings in the distance.

You already have your choices mapped out. The paths on a course through the landscape, leading to a variety of different areas.

You contemplate meandering your way along the lane leading to your half-sister's, but if you did stop at hers and asked her for answers, she'd simply give you some stupid prophetic response. Probably more than likely peppered with riddles that would take far longer to decipher than was necessary.

No, there was definitely no point in visiting her. What would you gain from it anyway? Nothing more than aching legs and the opportunity of being beaten down by one of those giclops, not that they would have the chance. They were so damned slow that you doubted if they could even understand how to raise their arm and pick their nose.

The slightly more treacherous road that winds through a rugged, rock-filled area, seems more of a liable option at this point. It leads to the trolls territory but, you're pretty damn sure that with your ninja capabilities they wouldn't even know that you were there. But, wait, wasn't one of the trolls a Seer?

You'd spoken to her once – a long, long time ago. Back when things were a little more simpler.

Wasn't she raised by a dragon, or something? You can't really remember.

Well, your internal chattering's proven to be useful, for once. Nah, who're you kidding? It's useful all the time. It's never let you down yet.

Well, except for that one time… And that other time with that two-headed crocodile…

No, you won't think about them. Those were just occasions when you'd been a bit off. Nothing too spectacularly bad. Although, on those occasions, your Bro had saved your ass.

Not like he was here now.

Not like you needed him anyway.

Things have been going swimmingly for some time. You aren't just gonna turn around and stop now.

You find yourself heaving a sigh and coming to a stop. You need to think this through if you're going to make your way across those mountains.

First order of business, remember that not all of the trolls have made their home up there. Some of them could be living in a cozy little village far away from the rough terrain. Not that you'd seen that many leave their tough life to eke out a living elsewhere; not like you've seen that many in the past three years.

That would mean that the troll Seer could very well be somewhere else. She could have found out just how crappy and boring it was to live as a mountain troll, with their odd grumpy habits and secretive ways. Perhaps she'd set up camp elsewhere, building a hidden base that would leave anyone scratching their heads and struggling - in their attempts - to find the concealed location.

Well, there was always the chance that she was still there. You had heard nothing of trolls deciding to live outside of their community, being as close-knit as they were. Maybe she was still there.

That was enough to hope for, enough to make it a true decision to waltz along through the craggy landscape and into the depths of their lair.

The field of dark purple-blue stretches out before you, the silhouettes of occasional rocks and shrubs jutting out from the expanse ahead.

You begin the ascent at a quickened pace. It was best to get there in quick-time. The night wouldn't last forever.

Soon, the rustle of grass beneath your feet gives way to the crunch of pebbles and dirt. Sharp rocks jut out from the ground, some veering so close to the path that you have to step over them in your climb. Hiking up the slope is not too difficult, although it does slow you down a bit.

The atmosphere begins to crowd with a dusty odour, emitted from the land itself. A shiver runs up your spine.

You're being watched.

Your blade is within your grip with a mutter of a word. You hold it close to your side. Even around here the imps run wild. With the feeling of a thousand gazes upon you; you're not taking any chances.

From above grit skitters down, some of the small pieces falling down to land in your hair. You run a hand through it, dislodging the gravel, and glance around. You can't see any sign of the bastards, but you can hear them. The clack of claws against the earth echoing back towards you.

They were like an infection, reaching out to every single location and every living thing.

The further up you climb, the further their movements echo. They're surrounding you, you know it.

It wasn't as if they could win. Even in a group they were weak. Just as long as there weren't any of those damn basilisks around, you'd be fine.

A twinge of pain snakes its way up your spine and you wince. No, you won't stop. You're not stopping anytime soon.

Your grip on your blade tightens.

Ahead the trail branches out into three segments. You stop, examining each in turn. The path you'll need is the one most travelled, or so your common sense is telling you. Though, the trolls could probably navigate the small outcrops of their terrain no problem. You pause to think, your gaze roving over each of the pathways in turn.

… Fuck it, you'll just try your luck. It wasn't as if it would leave you completely screwed over if you choose wrong anyway. Just a quick rush back, march your way down another one of the paths and you'd be fine.

The screech of an imp catches you off guard and you turn, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. In a second, one of the tiny bastards goes whizzing past your head with a shriek. It lands heavily, twitching and moaning before it falls silent.

"What…?" you say, raising a brow at the thing.

Flying imps? That was new.

Curious, you head in the direction it had flown from, the sound of snarls and cries loudly hovering in the air.

As you turn the corner, a small imp charges toward you. You lift Caledscratch and aim down low, slicing through its stomach and sending it silently rolling backwards.

A cackle sounds ahead and you turn to look, your shaded gaze fixing on that of a blindfolded, grinning troll. "Not bad, Cherry Kid!"

… Cherry kid?

"Mind helping me bring these criminals to justice?" Her grin widens.

You shrug, kicking the fallen imp out of the way and head over to the troll, moving to avoid incoming attacks from more of the small menaces as you do. As you lift your blade up to deflect a score of sharp talons, the horned girl moves to stand behind you, her back to yours. You hear the swish of air, a slight gust of wind, and another of the imps are sent bowling backwards with a squeal. You react quickly as another of the creatures lunges toward you. You slash at it, forcing it back before it can respond in turn.

You and her switch sides as more of the imps race in snarling. They lash out and you respond with a boot to the face of the nearest and a low swipe of your blade. You can hear the clash of the troll's weapon against claws, then the screech of her fallen enemies as they hit the floor.

Soon, gathered all around you, was a pile of unconscious imps. It was like a small field of liquorice, equipped with an arsenal of killing tools that were still quite liable to chomp down on your leg and force you down into a sea of madness and confectionary; if you didn't watch your step.

Stepping over the prone forms, you look back to see the troll easily making her own way through the ocean of criminals.

She's still grinning as she looks at you, although you couldn't exactly call it looking, more like seeing right through you, or something.

"So, what's a sweet smelling human like you doing so far up here?" she asks, stopping close to you.

Smelling...? Huh, now that wasn't the weirdest thing you'd heard all day. "Looking for answers and seeking out the magical hiking boots - that rest on the tippity top of these mountains - that I've heard so much about," you say.

"Hiking boots?" She pulls a face. "They don't sound like they'd smell very nice."

"Well, that's the thing. They have this distinguishing odour that's actually very appealing. It seeps out like smoke and sends out a smell that reminds anyone close by of the thing they love the most."

She laughs, the sound grating on the air, then grins. "That better come in the delicious scent of red, then."

"I assure you, it does." You smirk.

"So," she continues, the folds of the cloth that binds the upper part of her face creasing as she scrutinizes you, "what is the true reason behind you coming here? Are you going to tell me the whole truth and nothing but the truth, or must I pull it from your mind myself in a conclusive interrogation?"

You raise a hand and place it against your chest, shifting your blade back into the strife deck to lift your other hand in a solemn pledge. "I will officially tell you the truth and nothing but the truth, else I be trampled on by mammoths and hurled into the sea of time to be frozen for all eternity."

She nods, her grin returning with a vengeance. In a matter of moments, the small blade that she had been brandishing (without you even noticing it was even there, too focused on the blindfold the troll wore and the conversation at hand) was placed back into its cane-like sheath, twirled about and stabbed into the ground to be leaned against; one hand landing to rest on the oddly designed head of the object.

"I'm in search of a Seer," you say. "I'm hoping to find some answers to a few questions. My treacherous journey in search of the information I seek has come up with nothing so far, so I decided to scour this dark land for someone with a vast amount of the knowledge that I'm after."

The troll had been silent throughout, although you were sure that she had shot you a surprised, if intrigued look the instant that you had mentioned your search for an aforementioned Seer. She stayed quiet for a few moments longer, her lips turning downward in thought.

"Then you've found her," she says with a vague wave and a quiet chuckle. "... I thought I recognized your scent from somewhere... You're that human boy that visited me a long time ago, right?"

Confused for a moment, you pause to look at her more closely. She did look familiar... "You have a dragon for a... whatchamacallit? ... A lusus, don't you?"

"Oh, yes, but she's long flown from the nest; off doing her own thing, I suppose." She shrugs. "I'm Terezi, by the way. I can't recall your name, so I'm pretty much certain that you don't know mine."

"Mine's Dave. Though, I prefer more natural-sounding nicknames, such as Coolkid."

She flashes you another fanged grin. "Then, Cherry-Coolkid it is."

You slip your hands into your trouser pockets. "So, what say you and I blow this joint before any of our pile of unconscious friends decide to wake up?"

"Agreed. Although, I wouldn't be against bashing them up all over again." Terezi cackled, casually moving to walk alongside you, her cane dully thumping rhythmically upon the rocky ground in time with every second step that the pair of you took.

"... You up for a Q and A?" you ask, turning to look at her.

"Certainly," she says, dipping her head once, her fanged grin still prominent. "Undulge me in your plethora of problem scented questions."

"Okay, then." You clap your hands together, then shove them back away into your pockets."What do you know about hexes?"


	6. ==> John: Begin Your New Adventure!

The couch was a wondrous thing. Incredibly comfy and sly in the way that it had coaxed you into sleeping on it. When your eyes snap open blearily, you realize that it had succeeded. You lie stretched out on the couch, a blanket wrapped around you. You are sure that it hadn’t been there earlier.

Slowly, you sit up, your vision blurry. For a moment you wonder why, then realize that your glasses must’ve been removed in your sleep.

Seeing something that looked like a small coffee table to your left, you shuffle closer and reach forward, finding your fingers brush against cold metal and glass. Taking hold of it, you flick open the arms of what you're certain are your glasses and fit them in place on the bridge of your nose.

Your surroundings are instantly defined, and you are now sure that what you took for a coffee table is - in fact - a coffee table.

With a stretch, you look around.

Everything seems much the same as yesterday. There’s the fireplace; now simply reduced to a small crackling flame in the middle of a bunch of burnt away logs. There’s that weird wizard statue, and there’s the mansion itself. You are still finding it a little hard to grasp. Everything up until now seems so unreal. It’s as if you have just dreamt this whole thing up, and yet you know that you haven’t.

“I mean, it’s all right before my eyes,” you mutter aloud. It echoes off of the walls and bounces back to you, and you glance around again. Where was Rose? Had she gone to bed?

… Well, she probably has. You did nod off after all. It wasn’t as if she’d stand around waiting for you to get up again.

Pushing the blankets away, you get to your feet. Maybe you could have a nosy around. Would she mind? You don’t think so, although you can’t really be too sure…

Without realizing it, you’ve shuffled closer to the wizard. You catch yourself in the act, your hand reaching out to poke at the wizard’s ruffled robes. Though, after staring at your hand for a moment, then back to the statue, you do it anyway.

Nothing happens.

It’s just a plain old statue.

Though, what did you expect? That it would suddenly come to a life and do a jig? Actually… that would be kind of awesome. Heck, remove that ‘kind of’ and kick it away; it _would_ be awesome.

You are pretty much certain that stuff like that can happen anyway. This world sure seems different from your own. Well, from what you’ve actually seen of it so far.

You stare up at the horrible grimacing face of the wizard. “It looks like he’s in the middle of having a-“

“Good morning!”

With a squeak, you violently jump and turn around.

A black cat is sat in front of you.

“Um…?” What was that? That hadn’t sounded like Rose…

“Are you a visitor?” The cat tilts its head. No, his head. His voice sounds like a guy’s.

Wait, his **voice**?!

He can talk?!

“You’re a talking… cat,” you say. It comes out more high-pitched than you would’ve liked.

“Yes, I am!” he replies in a proud manner. “And you’re a talking person!”

“Uh, yeeeah…”

“I’m Jaspers! What’s your name?”

“… John,” you manage to say.

Jaspers flicks the tip of his tail and you swear he’s just smiled at you. “It’s nice to meet you John! I hope we can go fishing some time.”

“Yeah, that would be… nice?” You don’t really know what else to say. You’re having a casual conversation with a cat.

Jaspers turns, his little smiling face pointing in the direction of the stairs. He flicks his ears. “I think Rose is coming. I hope she’ll feed me! I’m hungry.” And with that, Jaspers stood up and trotted over to the staircase, then parked his butt back down, and proceeded to stare up them with a kinked tail.

Sure enough, as you stare open mouthed over at the cat, Rose appeared, walking down the stairs. She paused when she saw Jaspers and glances over at you, then back to Jaspers again. “I see you two have become acquainted.”

“Yes!” Jaspers happily replies. “We should all go fishing together!”

“Later Jaspers,” Rose says. Stepping past the cat, she walks over to you. “After we have had breakfast, we’ll leave.”

You nod, although it’s like it’s on automatic. You’re still watching Jaspers.

He mews and rushes over to brush against Rose’s legs. “I’m hungry, Rose! Can I have some tuna?”

She glances down at him. “I’ll have to check to see if we still have any in stock.”

“Okay, that’s fine! I’ll sit here and wait.” He proceeded to do just that; curling his tail around his paws.

Rose turns away, and then pauses a moment to look back at you. “I should have some cereal. If you’d like to accompany me into the kitchen you can help in sorting out our morning banquet.”

“Uh, sure,” you say, following after her. Cereal’s way better than cake!

It takes only a few minutes for the pair of you to find everything that you need, and soon you’re sat eating cereal at a fancy pine table in the dining room.

Jaspers happily munched away on his fish close by.

The time flashed by quickly; in a quiet kind of way. Soon you and Rose were cleaning up and saying your goodbyes to Jaspers (you still can’t get over the fact that he talks! That is so cool! Yet kind of surreal too.).

“Now,” Rose began, as the pair of you headed out of the living room, “I’ll be escorting you across our lake via boat. It shouldn’t be a long trip, although last night’s deluge may have summoned a few… difficulties. However, they will pose no problems for the two of us.”

“Difficulties?” That didn’t sound too good.

She shakes her head. “Nothing that you should concern yourself about. I will provide us with full protection on board the boat.”

Curiosity wells up inside you. “What kind of protection?”

“A barrier, of sorts.”

“A… barrier? You mean like a magical one? Oh man! That’s awesome!”

The left side of her lips quirks upwards in something resembling a small smile. “Something like that.”

* * *

 

It turned out that the barrier was an invisible forcefield thingy that encircled the entire boat.

As soon as you and Rose had hopped in it, she had stood up and proceeded to mutter a few incomprehensible words, and then there was a shimmer of something invisible all around you.

You reach out, your fingers immediately brushing against something that feels a lot like a real and very solid wall. You knock on it and a faint line of silver arcs across the invisible barrier. It vanishes moments later. It’s pretty cool.

Thinking back to yesterday’s weather, you glance towards the sky. It looks clear, if somewhat greyer than normal. Should you be worried about that?

“Is that normal?” you ask, pointing up at the drab sky.

Rose looks up and hums quietly in thought. “That usually occurs after a storm, it’s not unusual. However it is unusual for there to be a lack of light rain. Commonly you can expect at least a light shower around here.”

You continue to study the sky for a moment before shrugging and settling down in your seat.

The boat itself is a medium sized thing; cream white with bench-like seats. Not the most comfortable of things in the world to park your butt on, but they’d do. There’s no point in complaining. You’ll be starting your exploration soon, after all!

Removing the anchor from its place and bringing it aboard, Rose sat down gracefully beside you.

Before you could bring up the question as to whether this boat was run by magic or not, Rose turns away and tugs on the string of the motor. It loudly purrs to life.

Oh well, that answered that question.

You didn’t really notice it before, or had taken it in.

The boat lurched away from the pier, sweeping through the water and leaving Rose’s large mansion behind it.

You shoot a quizzical glance over at Rose, wondering if it was by her hands that the boat was being so unnoticeably driven. Although she gives you no indication that she’s noticed your meaningful look.

 _‘Probably magic,’_ you think to yourself.

Everything seemed to be filled with magic here. It was like something out of a fairy-tale, oorrr maybe it’s just that you’re thinking that you’re seeing an awful lot of magic when there is none. … Nope, there’s definitely magicky stuff going on. What with the portally side of the mirror, the fact that there’s now a barrier around you and Rose, and the self-moving boat; it’s so obvious that you are now a part of something magical.

… You’re finding it a little hard to sit still.

You lean down to look at the water, catching your reflection staring back at you. It brings back memories of just before you’d leapt through the mirror and you pull back, briefly thinking over how everything could have been so different if you hadn’t even found it, or ninja’d out of your room.

It was kind of funny, really.

The boat is moving pretty fast, enough to pick the breeze up and send it whooshing over you. It’s getting kind of chilly. Well, it was already chilly the instant you’d stepped out of the house but, it feels colder now. It’s probably just to do with the wind.

The water stretches out ahead of you like snow layering the ground on a Winter’s day. Far off in the distance you are sure that you can just make out sillhouettes of something that look like trees. … You’re already wanting to be over there; walking around and seeing what new and cool stuff will be waiting for you on the other side.

But, it looks like it’ll take a while.

… You wish you’d brought along a game or a book or something to pass the time.

You are pretty sure that it’s getting much colder now. Maybe the pair of you should’ve brought jackets along, or something.

“It is not this cold ordinarily,” Rose says, breaking the silence.

You wrap your arms around yourself in an effort to keep warm.

Rose frowns, glancing out over the water. “… Something’s wrong.”

A metallic, screeching noise, like a blade slammed against a blade, cuts through the last of her words, followed by the sudden pattering sound of rain.

Fear trickles down your spine and you find yourself staring wide-eyed over the side of the boat.

“This isn’t good.” You faintly hear Rose’s voice over the repeated, ear-aching shriek and the increasing hiss of falling rain.

Numbly, you think over how the barrier is a little like a raincoat; keeping you safe from getting damp. And then Rose gets quickly to her feet, and you’re faintly aware of the fact that her hands are glowing.

Something immense and monstrous bursts out from the water with an inhuman wail. You scramble back against the opposite side of the boat in a futile attempt to get as far away from the hellish thing as possible.

A gaping mouth and dark scales that are slowly lifting outwards from the sides of some kind of serpentine body is the only thing that you can really make out.

Shock washes over you, swiftly followed by panic and fear. “Oh god, oh god, oh god…” Are you saying that? You don’t even know anymore. This has just become like something fresh out of a nightmare.

With a flash, Rose now is in possession of what looks to be a pair of needles, and she’s pointing them right at the beast.

It rumbles out a growl and empties a breath over the barrier, leaving brief veins of silver in the aftermath. Without pause, the thing smashes its head against the barrier. The transparent shield trembles in the aftermath; the beast smashes against it again.

Again and again it does this, then it stops, the rising storm and its hissing breaths the only sounds to be heard.

You feel as if it’s watching you. Watching you both. Sizing the pair of you up, and you’re frightened. Incredibly so.

You hug your arms tightly about your chest, staring up at the thing.

Rose is still standing with her eyes on the creature, her expression grim.

“This barrier… it won’t hold for much longer,” she says, just loud enough to be heard over the non-stop noise.

With your gaze flickering between her and the monster, you carefully stand up and approach Rose. “What… can we do?” you ask.

“Nothing.”

Your eyes widen and you glance back up at the monster. Shit, this isn’t good… Not good at all. Why did you even agree to this? Why did you even go through the mirror? Maybe it would have been better if you’d never come here in the first place.

Without warning, the monster slams against the barrier again, repeatedly. The boom of each strike echoes down to you and you feel as the fear sweeps up to take you down with it. This is bad. This is so bad!

A crack appears in the barrier and Rose shifts slightly, raising one of her needles higher than the other. As the monster’s snout breaks through the fissure, Rose’s needles light up. A beam of glowing purple burst out from the tips, striking the monster and sending it writhing back in pain.

Your chest and stomach is now flooding with panic, fear and the smallest flicker of relief. Maybe you’ll be able to beat this thing, scare it off with whatever that beam of purple light is.

The monster screeches and turns to lunge for the boat, its rows of teeth the only thing that really has your attention.

It’s the most fucking creepiest thing you’ve ever seen!

Rose sends another blast of light it’s way and you duck as, out of the corner of your eye, you see a shard of the shattered barrier fall way too closely in your direction.

The boat begins to rock as the monster thrashes in the water, and then pulls back.

Hope washes over you and you straighten up. Is it leaving?

Then the thing tilts its head upwards and releases an alien howl.

The rain picks up even more, the sky turns dark and lightning and thunder crashes overhead. Before you have even the slightest chance to crouch or flop to the floor, the boat rocks violently and you’re suddenly teetering over the edge.

A wave of horror sends your heart leaping up into your throat.

In those brief few seconds you glimpse the waves below being ripped apart by a rapidly growing whirlpool.

You hear Rose’s muffled shouts and feel the brush of a hand against your arm, then suddenly, you’re falling.

A roar, the feeling of ice-cold air all around you, and a horrifying image of a gaping hole below you.

And then… darkness consumes you.


	7. ==> John: Wake Up

You awake.

You feel numb.

A clear blue sky spans out above you, filled with fluffy white clouds. … That’s definitely clashing against what you remember.

With a groan, you sit up.

A thought brushes through your mind and you reach up to check for the familiar plastic feel of your glasses frames. A tinge of irritance lashes through you. Out of anything that could possibly go whirling through your head after that nightmare, and it’s whether you’re still wearing your glasses. Wow.

You’re aching everywhere. You feel as if you’ve been run over multiple times by the Road Runner.

You rub your left arm and shut your eyes for a moment. You conjure up an image of a clown - no, no, it’s a harlequin. It’s mostly just a dumb attempt of focusing on something other than the pain. But, you guess it works a little.

As soon as you feel up to the task of opening your eyes again, you do so.

Green. There’s green everywhere.

Where the heck are you?!

Well, there’s no water around, that’s for sure. Unless this was all some kind of magicky illusion, or something.

Trying to find something that would identify it as such, you look around carefully.

Trees, trees, more trees, grass, weird flowers… Dull brown colours… More green…

Yeah, you don’t think you’re getting anywhere with this silly analysis thing.

You get to your feet, and instantly wobble, almost tottering back to the floor again on your ass. Inhaling deeply, you focus on keeping yourself steady, throwing your arms out in a dumb manner and hoping silently that there’s no one around to see you like this.

Somewhere in the distance you can hear the twittering of a bird. Almost instantaneously, you end up thinking of Jaspers. If that cat could talk, would that mean that other animals can too? Was this world like Narnia that way?

A lance of pain goes rushing up your leg and you do some kind of awkward dance thing and collapse back onto the floor.

This is stupid.

This whole thing is stupid. Why’d you even decide on going on this dumb adventure in the first place?

You huff and shift a little until your sitting in a more comfortable position.

You guess you can sit here a while, maybe. Unless something else comes along that wants to try and eat you.

Serpentine monster images rush through your mind, and you shudder. No, maaaybe it’s for the best that you get moving as soon as possible. You don’t want to end up as monster bait.

Frowning in determination, you push yourself into a crouching position and then get back up onto your feet. This time you remain standing, which is good. Awesome in fact! Now there’s no worry that you’ll be gobbled up by some kind of ogre or something. Just… a teensy bit of worry over the fact that you’re out in this unfamiliar wilderness alone, and unprotected.

Great.

With a loud sigh, you examine your surroundings again. Where do you even go from here? It’s all just one big field of nothing but grassland and mud.

The only good thing about this so far is the fact that it looks like not much time has passed since your weird teleporting journey from the boat to here. How did that even happen anyway?

Magic, that’s fine. You understand that okay. A mirror that is probably just as full of magic potential that can send you to a different world? That’s alright. But, a weird portally , whirlwind thing that just opened up on the surface of the _water_ no less and somehow transported you here? Now that is just a little bit too much.

… You’re starting to get a headache just thinking about it.

You reach up and rub your head, both in an attempt to ease off the aches and somehow try and dispel your confusion. Well, the former kind of works.

A whistle of wind brushes through your hair and you catch the sight of something moving in the distance. Is that… a leaf? You squint. It looks like a leaf. Except maybe with a lot more randomized colours.

Curious, you start to go after it. Luckily, it’s only a small breeze that is swinging it along and you are soon within a short distance of it.

It seriously does just look like a colourful leaf, which is odd. Leaves aren’t usually supposed to be blue, orange and yellow, right? You reach out –

“What the fuck do you think your doing?”

You squeak and leap at least a foot in the air, turning so swiftly that you end up stumbling over your own two feet.

You hear someone snort and you frown in their direction. In that instance you’re certain that your face becomes frozen half-way between a look of annoyance and shock. That probably looks really weird.

There’s some kind of goggle-wearing human looking person standing with his arms folded not too far away. Human, if it weren’t for the fact that he was grey skinned and had bright, nubby little horns poking out from a mess of dark hair on his head.

“Uh…?“ you say.

“… ’Uh’ is that all you have to say? Are you fucking stupid? Do you know what would’ve happened if you’d touched that leaf?! It would’ve transported you into one of those gog-damned annoying and shitty dimensional traps!”

You blink, then stare at him blankly. “I didn’t know that.”

He shoots you an expression somewhere on the spectrum between disgusted and pissed off. “All you humans are the fucking same. So. Fucking. Dumb. I don’t know why I even bothered saying anything. I should’ve just kept my bay trap shut and gone waltzing on my merry way.”

“Bay trap…?”

He scowls. “See? There you go again with the stupid fucking questions.”

Your mind begins ticking away at a quick pace. ‘All you humans…’ Wait, did that mean that he wasn’t one? Well, he didn’t exactly look it but, maybe it was just a costume or something.

“Are you wearing a costume?” you wind up asking aloud.

You swear that he just rolled his eyes at you beyond those tinted goggle lens. “No. Gah, what the fuck is wrong with you!? How could you not know what I am? We live on the same crapsack of a planet as you and-”

“I don’t,” you say.

He stops, his mouth falling open. “… What?!”

“I don’t live here! I mean, I’m not exactly from here. I’m from another world.”

His mouth stays half-way open for a bit, and then he shifts, crossing his arms and shooting you a disbelieving scowl that you read as ‘are you fucking coo-coo in the head’? “Yeah, and I’m from Crapville Central.”

“No, no, I’m serious!” you say.

He sighs and turns away slightly. “You are completely nuts. Right now I’m really regretting deciding to help you out. I should’ve just let you touch that leaf and go zapping off to gaga-land.”

You’re not really getting anywhere with this. Maybe it’s best to try and divert the topic. “What… are you anyway?”

He shakes his head and crosses his arms, giving you yet an even more grumpy look. How does he manage to make himself look anymore grumpy than he already is? “I’m a troll. You know, the colourful, benubbed beings that are pretty much the fucking superior beings on this entire planet!”

“A troll…? I’ve never heard of them.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? Everyone has heard of us. We’re the talk of all manner of conversations, shifting from ‘oh, look the mountainous trolls have decided to leave their environment for fucking once’ to ‘why do they have to have awesome horns and we don’t?’”

“Well, I must have never been a part of these conversations.” You shrug.

He sighs and gives you a look halfway between a glare and something else that you can’t really decipher. “Look, are you just gonna be standing around here like a dumb weaselfuck all day, or what?”

You look at him in confusion. What exactly did he mean by that?

He shifted a little to lean more to his left. “What I mean is, it isn’t exactly the most safest of places around here. You either find someone to act as a bodyguard, or you don’t and you end up dying. Gruesomely, I might add.”

“Well, I’d prefer staying alive over being dead.” It was almost as if he was hinting at something…

“Then, being that you’re a pathetic excuse for a human who can’t do shit by yourself, I’m giving you this one-time offer of letting me accompany you across this wasteland of horror.”

Oh, you see. A small smile slowly twitches your lips upwards, which quickly turns into a grin. “You’re worried about me, aren’t you?”

The troll backs off a bit, scowling. “N-no, I’m not. Look, do you want my help or not? I can easily just abandon you here to be eaten by gog-knows-what.”

You carry on giving him a mischievous grin, holding your hands behind your back to rock forward on your feet. “Maaaaybe I do.”

He sighs heavily, rubbing a hand across his face, then turns away with a stomp. “I’m just going to leave you here to be an annoying fucktard by yourself.”

You close the distance between yourself and the grump, trying to stifle the laughter that comes bubbling up your throat. “No, no, what I meant was that I wouldn’t mind your help.” You tone down your smile a bit as he looks back at you.

For a moment, he’s quiet and then he bares his sharp teeth a little. “You should’ve fucking meant that in the first place.”

You hold your hands up before you, taking a small step back. Although, you’re still playfully smiling. “Yeah, okay! You don’t need to start growling, Mr. Grumpy.”

He stiffened. “What was that?”

“Uh, nothing. I didn’t call you anything. What’s your name, anyway?”

“Karkat.”

“Huh. I’m John! And, uh, thanks, you know, for the help.”

Karkat shrugged. “Whatever, just don’t try poking any of those fluttering dimensional leaves again.”

“I won’t.” Still, though, it was kind of tempting. Maybe the reason why they were coloured like that was to lure you in, which made a lot of sense actually. You looked thoughtfully in the direction of the leaf. By this point, it had been pushed along further away by the breeze, now just a small collection of blurred oranges and reds to your eyes.

“What’s with the goggles?” you ask.

Karkat shakes his head with a slight scowl. “Why do you ask so many stupid questions? … We’re sensitive to the rays of the sun. That’s why I’m wearing these, to protect my eyes from burning and shriveling up.”

“They’d do that?”

“No! It’d just fucking hurt. Anyway, let’s stop standing around here and actually move. You don’t want to be suddenly confronted by a vicious hornbrute or something, do you? Unless you do and then we’ll both fucking die.”

Hornbrute? An image of a snorting rhino flashed before your mind’s eye briefly, although you have a feeling that it wouldn’t look anything like that if you actually saw a hornbrute face-to-face. Shrugging off the notion, you begin to walk after Karkat. He slows down a little to walk by your side, his face set in a grim sort of grumpy expression.

Everything was happening so fast. It barely left you any room to think things through.

You hoped Rose was alright. That water serpent had wanted to eat you both. You were sure of it. But, you are now nowhere close to where Rose currently is. Wherever she actually is. You just silently hope that she’s fine. That the serpentine thing hasn’t hurt her, or worse.

Though, she had seemed perfectly capable of lashing out at it with those magic wand-needles of hers.

It didn’t matter how long a time you’ve been here for, thoughts like that make you feel like everything around you isn’t exactly real. That you’re walking through a dream. Maybe one that you’ve conjured up to escape from the confines of the house.

You reach up and pinch yourself, but everything remains exactly the same.

Nope, you’re definitely not dreaming.

Karkat shoots you an odd look. “Why’d you do that?”

“Just checking something,” you say.

“Can you actually refrain from doing dumbfuck things?”

You shrug. “Depends on whether I think it’s necessary or not.” You flash him a grin.

He groans in annoyance.

* * *

 

Day was making way for night. The scenery now taking on a gloom that clung to the colours around you, obscuring the greens, blues and browns of the land.

Karkat had told you to stop.

The pair of you now stood beneath the shade of a group of closely knit trees.

“We should be safe from attack here,” he says. “I’ll start a fire.” He walked over to the trees and began to yank the nearest branches off of them, much to your surprise.

“Don’t you think searching for firewood would be better than just pulling them off of the trees themselves?”

Karkat glances back at you. “No, because then that means that we’d have to busy ourselves by looking around for sufficient firewood to actually start a fire with in the first place. It would take more fucking time searching for wood than it would to actually just get it like how I am now.”

“Oh, okay.”

Soon, after Karkat had order-yelled at you to help him, you have a big heap of wood. More than enough to produce a fire with.

Karkat crouched before it, coaxing out the flames with a pair of twigs. Moments later the sparks danced across the wood and soon spread outwards to create the very same fire that you’d needed.

“You’re pretty good at this,” you say, shuffling close to the flames and plopping yourself down near it in an attempt to soak in its heat.

Karkat shrugged. “When you’re forced into hunting for yourself you have to be pretty good, or else you die.”

For the rest of that night, things were pretty silent between you and Karkat. You shared a packet of potato chips with him and gave him some of your cookies, of which you were entirely confused as to how they’d found a place within your Fetch Modus in the first place. And then the pair of you tried to get some sleep.


	8. ==> John: Where Are You?

For a moment, you wonder where in the heck of everything Billy Murray-related you are. And then you realize that you are curled up beneath your jacket, and that you’re out on the great foreign plains of another world with a troll named Karkat acting as your kind of bodyguard.

All of that comes rushing back toward you at once.

You sit up, pushing back your jacket, and stare at the dying flames of the fire.

Everything just feels so surreal.

Exhaling quietly, you run a hand through your messy hair. Where are you even going anymore? You have no idea. Sure, being sucked up into a whirlwind tunnel of water to be spat out somewhere else was one way of allowing you to see more of this strange land but, it also has forced you into a bad sort of predicament. A predicament where you are incredibly distanced from the place you call home.

The mirror is a long way off. You just know it. It’s like a very heavy weight in your gut; a terrible feeling that is pushing you into the boundaries of anxiety and fear. Although you won’t give in to it.

You’re silently grateful that Karkat actually decided to help you out. Well, act as your protector, or whatever he thinks he’s being. Even after that incident (you wince a little) where you had told him outright that you’re not from this world.

It was obvious that he didn’t believe you. Who would? Apart from Rose, you guess.

You pull your jacket up to your chest, feeling a slight chill. In the morning light everything looks a little different. There’s a slight change to the colour of the scenery around you. Not to mention that a quiet breeze is blowing your way, somewhat stronger than it was yesterday. Unless you’re imagining it.

Karkat mumbles something in his sleep and you look in his direction. He turns over to face away from you and your eyes flicker toward his horns.

Who’d have thought that there would be a sentient species that looked almost the same as your own kind albeit with horns and grey skin? Maybe the others had different pale tinted skin? Or was it just the same colour for every troll?

Karkat pushes himself up into a sitting position and rubs at his eyes with one hand. He glances over at you blearily, then kicks his way out from underneath his blanket.

“… Didn’t say this yesterday but, these kind of trees act as a defense against the hornbeasts and whatever the fuck else that would enjoy hunting us down and munch on our flesh. They have this kind of pollen that we can’t smell, but the beasts can, or something,” he mumbled, gesturing to the trees in question.

“So that’s why I didn’t end up waking up screaming to monsters standing over me,” you say with a small smile.

He grumbles something under his breath, then grabbing the blanket, he gets to his feet. “Yeah, yeah, that’s why.”

You grab your jacket and stand up. To you, the air feels clear and fresh; a breath of fresh air in this case, heh.

“So, where are we going?” you ask.

He pulls a face for a moment and shrugs. “I was on my way back to the mountains, but… considering that I have such a sluggish mess of a human with an even worse excuse for a think pan following me around I don’t think it’s such a good idea right now.”

The mountains…? Hadn’t he said something about that yesterday? You consider asking him, but the urge to bring up a certain particular fact overrides it. You grin. “I’m the one following you around? I thought that it’d be the other way round, considering that you stated yesterday that you’d be my bodyguard across this ‘wasteland of horror’.”

He crosses his arms with a scowl. “You’re such an annoying pile of cove rodent puke. Maybe I should just leave you here to rot.”

“Or maybe you shouldn’t. After all, you did say that you’d help me out.” You’re still grinning away. Did he even know that you were just messing around?

He huffs, turning away from you. “Whatever.”

“That is what you said.”

“Let’s just go already,” he says. The blanket disappears from his hands, placed back in the recesses of his own version of the Sylladex. Was it even called the same thing, considering the fact that he was of a different species from you? You had the urge to ask, but kept it to yourself. Questions later, travelling about this wide expanse now.

“Once we leave these trees, that’s it. Expect horrorbrutes to attack us at every turn,” Karkat said, turning to look at you. “We’re leaving right now, so keep a sharp eye out.”

“Alright then, lead the way.” You swing an arm out in the direction beyond the trees and Karkat wordlessly stalks past you.

You tag along behind him.

*

Blue-green grass crunches beneath your feet, and you’re pretty sure that grass isn’t meant to do that.

The cool breeze was wiped away during the fifteen minutes that you’ve been walking, making way for a warmer atmosphere, and with it, a stronger, sweeter smell of the strange grass. The sun is warm against your back, bringing a sense of peace to the hike. You feel like things are starting to look up. Even if there are supposed monsters patrolling this land, you’ve not seen any yet, and you’re pretty sure that if you had, you’d know about it. So, you simply enjoy the walk and the peace.

Karkat marches ahead of you. He doesn’t seem to be enjoying the walk, at all. His shoulders are hunched and he keeps glancing around alertly, as if waiting for a monster to come out of hiding and pounce the pair of you in the blink of an eye.

He’s way too paranoid.

You’ve not seen hide nor hair of any kind of ‘horrorbrute’. Unless they could turn invisible or someth- your eyes widen and you glance behind you. What if they could? If a decorative leaf could boot you into a different dimension and cats can talk, then you wouldn’t put it past this place to kick a monster that could turn invisible in your direction.

You hate your mind sometimes.

Biting your lip, you commence your own form of paranoia; by looking around. You glance to the left, then to the right. Although, again, you see nothing out of the ordinary.

“Can… these monsters turn invisible?” you ask.

“No,” Karkat grumply replied.

“Oh, okay.”

There’s that then.

Paranoia for nothing.

You breath a quiet sigh of relief.

“They can run faster than you can, though,” Karkat says, pausing a moment to scowl up at the sky. “Incredibly fast. One minute we’ll be walking along, the next they’ll just fucking appear before our eyes.”

Oh, _great_. That’s really settled your nerves.

“That’s why I’m keeping an eye out.”

It’s at that point, as he turns, that you notice that he’s wielding a pair of sickles. How you had missed that before, you don’t know. Maybe he’d just sneaked them out of his Strife Deck when you weren’t paying attention? … That made sense.

As you bite your lip, glancing behind your shoulder, you hear a swoosh of sound.

Karkat’s stiffened and came to a swift stop.

“What is it?” you ask.

“Shh, shut your clap-trap!” he hisses.

You fall silent.

He cocks his head to the side, the glint of his goggles catching the rays of the sun. You’re about to point that out when another swoosh echoes out behind you. You feel the wind pick up, brushing past the nake of your neck.

Something growls, low and dark.

As you spin around, you hear Karkat swearing under his breath.

 Oh no. Oh no, no, no.


	9. ==> John: Compare It to Something Fresh out of a Horror Film

It looks like something straight out of a horror movie.

Large, with terrifying jaws, a reptilian face and ew, that breath.

“Could’ve been fucking worse,” Karkat mutters. He’s stepped up to stand beside you. He raises his sickles in defense, glaring up at the beast. “At least it’s not one of those fast fuckers. Stay behind me, I’ll deal with it.”

The monster rumbles out a huge-ass roar and you flinch back. But you still manage a frown. You can fight as well. “I’m more than capable of holding my own in a fight,” you say.

Karkat scowls at you; the monster crouches in preparation to pounce. “I doubt that you have ever faced one of these assholes before. Just… stay back, alright?”

You breath out slowly, eyes on the giant reptile. “Fine.” You move back, but still bring out your hammer. If things go wrong, at least you’d be ready for it.

The monster pounces, jaws open and fuck is it creepy. Karkat shoves you out of the way as it sails overhead, and then he viciously jams one of his sickles skyward.

You scramble back as black fluid flies through the air.

The creature screams and lands on its feet, turning with a snap to face Karkat. It looks vaguely crocodilian in that moment and you watch as sharp looking talons are unsheathed from huge paws. It lashes out at Karkat and Karkat lashes out in retaliation. You hear the high-pitched chime of metal against bone and the creature hisses lowly.

“When I say go, you run like you’ve got a whole pack of screamblighters chasing after you,” Karkat says, pulling you away from the sight of the dark pooling blood at the creature’s feet and to his grim-set face.

“But what about-“

“I’ll follow straight after. I’ll just deal a bit more damage to this crocodilian fuck so he can’t tag along behind us.”

Without a word, you nod.

The creature hisses again, warning you both that it is far from finished. It rears up on its back-legs and lurches forward, straight at Karkat. He rolls out of the way and slashes at its side first with one sickle, then the other. As it groans in pain, he glances back at you.

“Go.”

You turn and run.

You can hear the thing hiss and roar behind you, and feel your heart pounding in your chest. This is just so, so wrong. Everything is so wrong. Oh god.

The crunch of grass beneath your feet sounds way louder than it should be. Your breath leaves you in pants and you swear that you’ve already used up most of your oxygen panicking the hell out over that crocodile thing.

You hear the quick beat of footsteps and glance to the side. Karkat glances back at you. “Over there,” he yells, pointing quickly to a earthy expanse. “There’s a cave hidden over there, we can hide in there!”

A cave? In the fast-moving blur of colour, you hadn’t the time to really pinpoint anything out, let alone actually pay attention to it. But, there was a cave?

You don’t know why you’re so focused on this sudden notion right now, when there’s probably a big-ass crocodile thing chasing after you. Maybe it is because you’ve got a big-ass crocodile thing chasing after you?

Karkat rushes in first, with you shadowing close behind.

The cooling shade of the cave does nothing to comfort you. “What if… there are other things… in this cave?” you ask, bending over to catch your breath.

Karkat shakes his head. “I’ve used… this cave before. There’s nothing in it.”

“Is it your home?” you ask with a small smile, straightening up a little. You feel a bit better now, though your chest is still aching from all of that running you’d just been doing.

Karkat scoffs. “No. It’s just a place I go to sometimes to get the fuck away from all of the horrorbrutes that patrol this gogforsaken place.”

… Gog? You stare at him weirdly.

“What?”

“Gog?”

“… No, shut up.”

You chuckle and flash him a grin. He huffs and looks away.

“So, are we just gonna be waiting around now?”

“Yes.”

“How long for?”

He shrugs. “For a little while? I don’t know. As long as that snaphead’s out there for.”

You walk over to lean against the wall, breathing out a sigh. Everything so far is just so fucked up and maybe you should just try to get home? Where even would home be, at this stage? You have no idea where the mirror is from here. For all you know, you could be getting further away from it.

You turn your head to look out at the landscape beyond the cave’s entrance.

That ‘snaphead’ thing, or whatever the heck Karkat called it is nowhere in sight. … Maybe it was gone.

You hope it is.

This whole thing is just becoming one big mess.

Karkat walks over to come to a stop beside you. He too is looking out, making sure that the coast is clear. “We’ll just wait for a bit longer. It might be waiting outside for us,” he says before crouching down, his head still turned in the direction of the cave’s mouth.

You shift a little on your feet. You’re anxious to continue on, but also anxious not to. It’s a mixed up situation. What if you wind up heading further away from the mirror the further out you journey? What if more monsters pop up out of nowhere to attack you and Karkat?

Sure, he’s acting like your bodyguard and he’s managed to deal with that thing but, what if more came chasing after you both? What if Karkat isn’t strong enough to face up to them all?

Exhaling, you slide down onto the floor to sit with your back to the cold wall.

… You are going to be bored as heck for a while.

What do you even have in your Sylladex? You can’t remember. Was it even worth it to take a look right now?

They’d probably be flung all over the place if you did take them out. Would that matter? Maybe.

Although, whatever kind of objects you’ve got stashed away in your Sylladex might be hurled outside, where that monster might still be lurking.

Still, it’d be funny if something ended up being tossed back to catch on Karkat’s nubby horns or something.

… You must’ve been grinning to yourself because Karkat’s now shooting you an odd grumpy glance with one of his eyebrows raised.

“What are you even-?”

Something snarls from outside of the cave.

You both freeze.

A large snout sniffs close to its entrance, fuzzy and definitely not the crocodile thing from before.

From the corner of your eye you see Karkat mouth ‘shit’.

That isn’t good. Maybe it’s worse than that crocodile. Maybe it’s that one that’s horrifyingly fast! Oh god, you hope not. You’re not in the mood to be made a squeak toy out of! … You don’t even know why you just thought that.

The monster huffs and snorts loudly outside, turning and pacing around the entrance.

Should you hold your breath? You should hold your breath.

Karkat is staying stock-still beside you, his hands resting on one of his pair of sickles, which he’d placed on the floor beside him moments before this thing appeared.

You bite your bottom lip, fear and panic rising up in your chest.

That thing… if it sees you…

The snuffling sounds stop. There’s a snarl.

Your eyes grow wide.

There’s someone out there.

The silhouette slashes at the monster with a weapon that gleams silver in the light; a blade, from the look of things. They jump back as the thing snaps at them, then attacks it again, stabbing at its head.

Karkat’s scowling, but it’s a different kind of scowl than the ones he’s been showering you with earlier. You take it that he is just as confused as you are yourself.

Still, you feel a smidgen of hope grow inside you.

Maybe this stranger can frighten off that thing?

The monster snarls, a horrid rumbling sound, and lashes out with its whip-like tail. It catches the silhouette sending them sprawling backwards in the dirt. You feel the need to go out there and take a couple of steps forwards, but Karkat pulls you back.

He shakes his head wordlessly as you glance at him with a frown. ‘Don’t go out there,’ his expression screams at you. ‘You’ll be killed.’

You can’t just leave someone to die out there though! You both can fight to help them! You furrow your brow at him, urging him to let you go and for him to join you. Trying to make him understand without words.

Outside, the monster hisses.

You turn back to look.

The stranger is back up on their feet. The monster retreating back away from them, its head held low. With another slash of their sword, the monster is sent to its knees. As it hisses and lurches forward to bite, the warrior sends the blade through its throat.

You wince and look away, feeling your stomach coil in knots.

Karkat’s expression has soured and, whether through sympathy or something else, he reaches out and places a hand on your shoulder.

You shift a little, shaking away the deepening fear as best as you can. This stranger… they’d just helped you, or at least, they’d just dealt with something that was liable to kill you, right? Liable to kill anyone if they had gotten too close to it while it had still been alive.

With your mouth set in a determined line, you quash your fears and the rising anxiety and take a step closer to the entrance.

Karkat growls quietly, a warning. You glance back at him and he gestures at you to come back, to stay in the shadows of the cave.

You shake your head and move even closer to the entrance. The stranger is still out there, now standing over the beast with their sword held downward in their grip.

You take a breath and step outside. 


	10. ==>Dave: Ponder

Your talk with the Seer had ended as well as you would've expected. Some questions, some answers, then a vague lot of other shit that you had to figure out on your own. Damn it, were all Seers like that? It was almost as if they enjoyed fucking around with your brain.

It was some unspoken rule, she had said. Something that couldn't be broken. 'You have to figure out the answer to the riddle on your own, Cherry-Coolkid.'

You sigh slumping down on the first giant-ass rock that you came across.

At least you could have a rest for a while. That was a bonus.

Although you'll win jack-shit apart from catching your breath and easing your aches.

A twinge of pain trickles along your shoulder blades, forcing you to hunch your shoulders in an effort to fend it off.

You shake your head, your veiled eyes fixed on the floor.

You hated this. The frustration, everything.

You crumple your left hand into a fist.

That notion you'd had to find your Bro all that time ago was starting to look like way better an option than searching for answers that just ended up being a mindfucking taunt over and over again.

You run a hand through your hair and lean back, exhaling through your nose. This was all just one big rollercoaster ride, and you were on it, cruising along a straight albeit slightly wobbily rail until suddenly you're being thrown off of the edge and into a great big black abyss screaming the whole way down.

You guess you'll just have to keep searching. Maybe Terezi's riddles would start to make more sense during your wanderings or something. A small hope, as you have absolutely no fucking clue what she was talking about.

Wordlessly, you withdraw Caledscratch from it's Captchalogue card and shift it back into your Strife Deck. Might as well free up some space in your Xedallys and keep your weapon in a more accessible place. You don't know why you keep switching it between one and the other; a force of habit you guess.

Standing up, you stretch then shove your hands into your trouser pockets, glancing around in a casual manner.

So, you've got work to do. … Kind of.

A quest to figure out what in the fuck Terezi meant.

Yippee.

' _A tenebrous grip cast away by felicity and dreams.'_

… Right.

Where are you supposed to go from here? Wander around until you can find a better place to think? Search for someone who can help you? No, you don't give a shit about that. No one would be able to help you with this kind of thing anyway.

Supposedly a Seer's words can only be unravelled by the one that first hears it, or something like that.

You fold your arms as you plod along, puzzling over the sentence and trying to piece together what it could possibly mean.

Something catches your eye in the distance and you turn to look.

A giant of a monster is creeping through the underbrush. Even from this expanse you know what it is: a man eater. And from the looks of things it was sniffing along a trail someone had left behind.

Just like that, your blade is back in your grip.

These things were nasty fuckers. They didn't just hunt for food, they'd torture their prey too. They should have been wiped out ages ago, to curl up and die in the frostbitten wastelands.

Whoever this one was after was in for a world of hurt if you didn't get to it first.

It's a good thing that you're a master at stealth. You'll easily ninja one-up this freak before it has the chance to even so much as blink.

Still, it is quite a way off. You're gonna have to dash after it at turbo-speed with a nice blend of careful stepping around the environment in order for you to catch up to it.

Wordlessly, you shadow it, taking purposeful strides to decrease the distance between you and the monster. It stalks further through the foliage. You can hear it sniffing at the ground from here.

Your grip on your blade tightens. It's not too far away, you can finish it off here –

Abruptly, it breaks into a run, faster than you can register.

Blinking, you stop and stay where you are for a moment. … You hadn't expected that.

You race after it.

It is intent on it's tracking. Not giving two-owl-hoots whether it's making any noise now or not. These things only had one enemy (being you) so why should this one give a crap about keeping quiet?

How did these monstrosities get away with killing so many people? They were as dumb as a lamp-post is tall.

You zip behind the nearest tree as it pauses to sniff the earth. The damn crystallized grass… You were thankful that the thing was making enough noise to cover your own crunching sound effect. You can't really be a ninja with this crackling orchestra beneath your feet.

It huffs loudly and lopes off, with you following along behind it at a safe distance.

You wanted to surprise it. Ambush the dumb thing without it noticing your presence until it was too late. But, how?

Maybe you could climb one of the trees like an acrobatic monkey? It wasn't against your skills to be able to do that. Though you'd definitely be more graceful than the most perfectly trained of primates. Just go pirouetting up into the hidden recesses of a tree in a beautiful well-performed backflip.

The monster snarls and you stop, your eyes trained back upon it.

It's now pacing and sniffing close to the entrance of a cave.

Forget climbing trees.

Now was the perfect opportunity to get rid of this man-eater before it caused any problems.

You edge around the safe space, the hissing breaths of the monster reverberating out towards you. As quiet as can be possible at this stage, you crouch and move forward, your blade raised in preperation for the attack.

The crystallized grass is no more. An added thousand bonus points to this game of kill or be killed. Your footsteps are muffled by the earth.

The monster pauses, then snarls, turning its head to stare in your direction.

You feel a chill run down your spine and your heart beats faster.

Oh, shit.

Well, there was nothing for it now.

You rush at it and strike, aiming at its left front leg. The monster snaps at you in retaliation. You jump back, feeling the rush of air and hearing the loud clack of teeth as its retribution misses you by a couple of inches. You counter, stabbing it squarely in the head.

It snarls again, baring its teeth in aggression. Out of the corner of your eye you see something whip towards you at a speed you can't dodge.

Red fills your vision as you're sent sprawling back, pain sprouting up upon the right side of your face. Your ears are ringing so loudly it's as if you've suddenly gained an choir of church bells attached to the insides of your ear lobes.

Fighting the music and the pain, you push yourself up on all fours, then unsteadily get to your feet.

The monster has closed the distance between you, its mouth open to crunch down on your prone form. You slash sideways, forcing it back and gifting it with a lovely new wound across its snout.

It hisses at you, brushing its snout with a paw, its head lowered.

You step forward, crouching quickly to sweep at the monster's limbs.

It collapses.

It's not out for the count yet, though. With a release of sizzling breath beneath bared teeth, it lurches at you.

You stab it through its throat.

As it starts to panic, scrabbling at you and the blade, you push Caledscratch further in. Releasing the monster from its pain.

As soon as the light leaves its eyes, you grab hold of your sword's hilt and heave it from its nestling spot. You block out the resulting sound and immediately shift Caledscratch back into the Strife Deck.

Stepping away from the monster's body, you exhale loudly. That was definitely a new experience. One that you doubt that you'll be forgetting anytime soon.

As the adrenaline starts to fade, you begin to feel your new accumulation of aches and pains. There's a tickling sensation of blood running along your brow. You're interrupted from the business of sorting that out, however, by a voice.

"Hey! That was great! You really helped us out there."

You turn to look, and raise your eyebrows at what you see. A dorky looking kid is grinning at you in an uncertain fashion. You can tell that he's trying his best not to look in the direction of the monster's corpse.

You shrug. "Just doing what every friendly neighbourhood warrior does."

He looks up at your forehead with a small frown. "You're bleeding."

"Well no shit, Sherlock," you say, shoving your hands back into your pockets and leaning a little to the right.

"Hey, Strider! Watch your fucking mouth!" Oh, fantastic. The lord of the cantankerous trolls comes stomping out from the shade of the cave. … You can't really say that you're that surprised to see him.

"Says the troll who can't keep his shut."

Karkat scowls and opens his mouth to obviously lash out with a nasty retort when the dorky guy shushes him. "He helped us out," he says. "The least you could do is – wait, you two know each other?" He glances between you and McGrumpydick.

"Yeah, we're old friends," you drawl.

If Karkat could scowl further than he had already, then his face would probably collapse in on itself. "You are so far removed from a friend that it's like you're on another planet and I'm just standing here yelling at nothing but the air."

"You do that so well, anyway."

"Hey, can you two stop fighting for a moment?" Dorky guy squeaks indignantly.

"Yeah, if that dumbass learns to shut up," Karkat grumbles.

"'That dumbass' can hear what you're saying you know," you reply.

"You're both being dumbasses," Dorky guy says with a deadpan expression.

You stare at him, and you're pretty sure that Karkat is staring at him too, what with his goggled head turned in his direction. His mouth has dropped open in a graceful way.

Plus two respect for Dorky guy gained.

To shut Karkat up is a feat in itself.

To shut you up is beyond a spectacular feat. Up and above it, floating through the endless cloud-filled sky.

"I'm John," he says and looks at you expectantly.

"I'm Dave the monster killer," you reply.

"I can see that." He winds up glancing over at the monster's corpse, then quickly looks back away again.

Karkat is glaring at you. You can feel it.

He really needs to get something besides tinted goggles. The trolls should definitely invent something better.

"As much as I've enjoyed this chat, I've gotta be on my way." You give them both a half-hearted wave and turn away.

"Wait!" John exclaims. "Why don't you stay with us for a while? You're capable of killing those monster-y things. You've even said so yourself. It'd help me and Karkat out, right Karkat?"

You can hear him grumbling something to himself. You don't need incredible hearing to know it's about you.

"No, sorry. I've got places to be." You haven't, but you'd prefer not being around the surly cat-troll of the century. "And things to do. I'll see you around." You start walking away.

"Oh, okay." You can literally hear the dismay in Dorky Guy's voice. But, you're not turning back. Nope.

' _Dave. Dave! Are you there?'_ You jump and end up almost tripping over a rock in the process. Wow, Jade way to warn a guy before you engage in mind-talk.

' _Yeah, what's up?'_

' _Is – have you encountered a boy called John, by any chance?'_

' _Maybe, depends on whether you're referring to a dorky-looking kid who just managed to shut up one Karkat Vantas mid-grump or not.'_

' _So you've met him?!'_

' _Yeah.'_

' _Is he still around? Or is he somewhere else by now?'_

' _I'm just waltzing my way downtown away from him right about now.'_

' _Then waltz your way back there, mister! I've been talking with Rose over a few things and I think that he's connected to the Denizen's restlessness in some way.'_

' _Wait, wait, so you're telling me I have to stay with him and McGrumpycat?'_

' _Yes! It's important that you do this. We might be able to work out a couple of things if you stay by his side.'_

You sigh, coming to a stop, and turn around. The slightest tinge of irritation running through you.  _'Fine… I'm heading back there right now.'_

' _Whoo! Thanks Dave! I'll be sure to let you know the instant that things start to become more clear. I'm counting on you, Mr. Cool Dude.'_

' _Yeah, see ya later.'_

' _Seeya!'_

You hadn't even felt the link buzz its way through your head before, but you can definitely feel it leaving you now. You're left alone to walk back, your eyes to the ground. Why'd you end up getting pulled up in this? You've got a riddle to solve and no kind of sudden burst of adventure was going to solve that.

Soon, you see the pair standing around. They've moved away from the place where the monster had dropped.

John's the first to see you and he waves.

Karkat scowls.

"So, you decided to come back?" John asks, flashing you a grin.

"No, I just decided on skinning this monster and making a handbag out of it."

Karkat snorts and folds his arms.

"So, you're a fashion designer as well as a monster-killer?" John says raising his hands to place them on either side of his face in mock surprise.

You lift your arms up high. "You got me. It's a dangerous job, but it's so worth it for all the fabulous."

"Pfft, you're weird," John says, still grinning away.

"So is everyone in the world," you say.

"You're the weirdest of all," Karkat grumbles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thanks for all of the comments and kudos, it means a lot. <3


	11. ==>Rose: Wonder at the Winter Wonderland

The atmosphere is a cold, unforgiving place. A white wasteland that you fear could rise up and drag you under. Confining you there in the darkness for all eternity.

It's a blessing that you're not seriously hurt. In the aftermath of the fight you were almost certain that the Spirit of the Lake had left its mark upon you. However, as you stand there in the chilling breeze, a swift examination of your arms, wrists and hands reveal otherwise.

You are perfectly fine. Or as fine as you can be as the loss of one John Egbert comes crashing through the barricade fabricated around your mind.

Worry for the boy rushes through you. You hope that he survived the attack much the same as you have yourself.

You stand still, breathing in the air and exhaling it in a puff of transparent mist. The first of a newborn flurry of snow dances into view and you raise a hand. A batch of the snowfall fragments come to rest on your upraised palm and you scrutinize them for a moment before letting your hand drop back down to your side.

A winter wonderland, as many would call it.

A fair distance away from your home.

You shiver and wrap your arms around yourself, grateful for your scarf, which can at least keep your partially protected from the cold.

You doubt that you would be able to make it back to your home on foot without falling victim to the freezing temperature and the oncoming blizzard.

It's good then that you know where you might be able to find a place to rest. Somewhere warm and free of the outside air.

You know that you are close to where Jade lives.

Unfortunately, being a separate form of witch from her, you are unable to contact her through her favoured form of connection.

Which leaves you with only one other option.

Drawing out your needles from their nestled point in the Strife Deck. You point them instantaneously to the sky.

You can feel the magic flow through them, extending out to their tips. It's only a few seconds later that a pulse of dark magenta surges out across the sky.

You drop your weapons, placing them neatly back away in the deck. Now all you have to do, is wait.

Jade's familiar mental call links with your mind within half a minute, her voice echoing through your ears and inside your head,  _'Rose, hello! What are you doing so far out here? I thought that you'd be back at your mansion meditating?'_

' _There are a greater majority of deeds that need to be done, than the practice of meditation.'_

' _Oh? Like what?'_

' _Like the sudden appearance of a boy not of this world.'_

' _Wait… what? Do you mean…?'_

' _Yes, he came from beyond the ancient heirloom mirror.'_

' _Oh… Oh! Maybe… No, wait, you're outside in the cold! I can't just let you stay out there to freeze! Just hang on a minute, Rose. I'll send Bec out to pick you up.'_

You smile the faintest of smiles in a blend of relief to get out of this freezing cold and gratitude to Jade for her amiable qualities.  _'Thank you, Jade.'_

' _No problem!'_ she replies, just as a flash of green light illuminates the blank nature of the snow.  _'Bec should be there now.'_

_'He is,'_ you reply, reaching out to pat the head of the large shaggy dog that rushes over to you with a happy grin. He wags his tail and licks your hand, then sits down with a snort. You have to admit, dogs weren't your most favoured of animals, however Becquerel was a special case due to his nature and interesting capabilities. One day you'd ask Jade about Bec's intriguing abilities, but not now.

Jade was more interested in a discussion about John Egbert, you could tell, and you were more than happy to oblige. There were certain… qualities and questions to this whole event that you yourself needed answers to and by talking about it with someone who was on the same page as you it might open up more possibilities for such aforementioned answers.

"Would you mind taking me with you, Becquerel?" you ask him.

He wags his tail and moves closer, brushing against your side. In a flash of green, you are instantly bombarded by warmth, the fresh scent of an assortment of flora and a particular change in scenery.

You are now standing in the midst of a familiar atrium; Jade's garden atrium. A place that you found she had often frequented during your few visits.

You find Jade seated upon the floor amid two sets of flower-filled rows. She opens her eyes and smiles as you approach. "It's good to see you face-to-face again, Rose! It's been a long while."

You nod. "Indeed it has."

She gets to her feet, brushing off her clothes, then flashes you a beaming grin, it falters for a moment when she notices you shivering. "I hope I didn't make you wait too long out there in the cold."

You shake your head. "I'm fine. This change in temperature should fight off the chill."

She continues to watch you for a moment, as if struggling with the urge to say something else related to this sudden worry. She lets it drop, however, instead gesturing for you to sit down beside her. "I hope you don't mind if we stay here. I have to keep an eye on the crops, you see. I think someone's been stealing off with them again."

"That's perfectly understandable," you say, gracefully sitting down cross-legged. The exchange from freezing air to warmth was comfortable enough, even though the perfume of the flowers may prove to be an annoyance if you were to stay in this particular area for too long.

Jade plops down beside you. "So, um, you said that a boy from another world came through that old mirror of yours?"

"Yes, I know little about him beyond him being a part of an outside world, except for the fact that I did have a strange… premonition of sorts before his entrance."

Jade frowned. "Premonition?"

"A… warning of such to his approach, is my guess. There was an aura of blue that clouded my vision momentarily, a hint of a reflection in a mirror and the vision of John before my journey up the stairs and to the room where the heirloom resides."

"It sounds to me as if it  _is_  a warning of some sort," Jade said in a thoughtful tone. "But, I remember that you said a while back that usually you don't have those kind of visions. They're mostly to do with the Horrorterrors."

"Yes, but I believe that this is a special case. It wasn't a monitory premonition against him but, more a monitory premonition against something else that will occur during his visit. Although I can't say specifically what it could be."

Jade shifts a little, her brow furrowing in thought. "That sounds… kind of ominous."

"Indeed."

"Where is he now?"

You sigh, feeling that sense of worry and something else you can't exactly pinpoint flowing viciously back over you. "We were ambushed by the Spirit of the Lake during our ride across it. Unfortunately, we were split up in the aftermath."

Jade put a hand over her mouth. "That sounds like it must've been terrible. I hope he's okay."

"I hope so too."

It's a terrible thing to think that he is out there somewhere without knowledge of the dangers that lurk the many sectors of Gabrium. You feel as if it is your own fault for letting him take that journey across the lake with you by boat. Although, there is nothing you can do about it now.

Jade seems suddenly restless, her expression set in a frown. She stares up at the flowers. "I… have been having weird dreams lately; recurring dreams. They're a blur but… It's as if something is calling out to me. And with the Denizens being so restless… It's all kinds of weird." She shakes her head. "No, never mind… I'll tell you about it later, Rose." She smiles. "First of all, I want to help you in your search for John!"

You chuckle quietly. "How did you know that that was my plan?"

She grins. "I have my ways! But, really, it's just that I know you. You wouldn't just let someone get hurt or lost without trying to help or find them. So, I'll see if I can contact some of the others. They might know something about this, or maybe they might've seen John if we're lucky! We'll never know, unless we try, right?"

With a smile, you nod in agreement. "Of course. I appreciate the help."

"It's the least I can do!"


	12. ==> John: Break up That Feud

"Come on guys!" you laugh, racing ahead of the pair. "Let's go already."

An hour or two had passed by during Dave's return and resigned agreement to stay. And both him and Karkat weren't really up to much now. For the most part, they'd been lashing sentence after sentence at each other, and it was getting dull.

Despite the despair that had sent your heart plummeting downwards into your stomach at the sight of that particular monster earlier, you still had this insatiable need to explore. It was as if it was stuck in one corner of your brain, egging you on, telling you to go further and know more about this world.

You really couldn't help yourself.

Yeah, running ahead was dumb, but it would urge them to cease their bickering and follow, right? No harm done there.

"Hey! Wait up, you airhead!" Karkat yells.

You twirl around and stick your tongue out at him. "Why should I?"

He's now running to catch up, with Dave a little in the lead.

You don't really know the guy at all but, what was with those shades? They looked… kinda familiar somehow. Were they modelled after a movie actor's shades, or something? (Did they have that type of thing here?) Maybe you should ask him.

Well, no, you'd possibly ask him a little later on. You wanted to go exploring first.

Soon, Karkat and Dave have caught up to you. Karkat shifted to stomp along on your right (with a glare at Dave) with Dave casually walking along to your left. You slacken your pace a bit. Despite your building excitement and the gnawing thoughts to sightsee, you don't exactly want to go racing off too far ahead.

Who knows what kinds of things might show up.

If you'd actually paused to think about it before you'd run off ahead from your two companions, then that thought would have made an appearance sooner. Still, Dave and Karkat had ceased bickering or whatever the heck they'd been attempting to do and were now journeying along beside you, so it wasn't all bad.

You find your thoughts veering down the worried path. You sincerely hope Rose was okay. In all of the excitement and fear, you had forgotten about your ride and random transportation to here. You bite your lip, glancing around. A small portion of your brain is telling you that she might be somewhere around here. Like she was hiding out, or something.

But, that couldn't be right. She hadn't been sucked into that whirlpool back on the lake… At least, you don't think she had. Your memories of the whole incident have kind of blurred all together and fallen in on themselves.

What of that serpent-thing? Maybe it had attacked her and left.

You feel your stomach clench in worry and you bite your lip.

… What if you asked Karkat about it? He knew things about these monsters, right? If you knew something about that serpent-thing, then it should help ease your worry.

You turned to look at him.

"What?" he says, frowning.

"Do you know anything about a serpent-type thing that lives in lakes?" you say.

He frowns all the more. "If you're referring to what I think you're referring to and not some dumb other thing that you decided not to include details about then, that's the Spirit of the Lake."

"The what of the what now?" you ask.

By this time, Dave's watching the pair of you with a poker-faced expression.

"It's a serpentine spirit that lives in the lake. Exactly what I just explained," Karkat says in an irritated tone. "They get pissy with anyone and everything. Especially when you disturb them from their slumber."

You furrow your eyebrows in thought. You have a feeling that Rose would've known about that Spirit of the Lake thing in advance, before the pair of you started crossing the lake on that boat. But, she hadn't said anything about it. Maybe she hadn't known about it? She had looked shocked when it'd risen out of the lake... "Do they just… live in one lake all their lives, or something?"

Karkat scoffs. "No, obviously, they move from lake to lake. They're always trying to find the perfect spot to sleep in. I'm just glad that I've only ever been close to a lake with one of those fuckers in once. They're a nuisance."

"Why?"

"Well, for one thing, they're grumpy bastards."

"Sounds a lot like someone I know," Dave said quietly.

Karkat twitches a little. "… For another, they have the power to send you someplace else. If you stare into their eyes for long enough, then you'd wake up somewhere different. Same for this whirlpool thing that they do by writhing around and hissing and shit. You don't really see it coming until it's too late."

Karkat frowns. "Why do you ask, anyway? There's no lake around here, and I wouldn't want to take the chance of being too close to them anyway. You can get plenty of water from rivers without having to resort to crouching like a headless cluckbeast dancing around by the edge of a lake."

You shrug. "… I ended up taken under one of those whirlpooly things by a Spirit of the Lake."

Karkat and Dave are now staring at you like you've grown an extra head.

"What?" you say. "I was travelling across the lake on a boat and got taken under the water by one of the pissy snakes."

"You," Karkat says through gritted teeth, "are a fucking idiot. Did your think-pan got knocked loose when you were dumped someplace else, or what? When a Spirit of the Lake attacks and forces you someplace else, more often than not you end up in mental itty-bitty pieces."

"Well, I'm fine," you say with another shrug of your shoulders. "I got through it alright." Even though you were pretty damn terrified when you'd witnessed that Spirit of the Lake and you'd been really disorientated when you'd woken up somewhere else but, you wouldn't tell them that. There was no point. You were here now, safe and sound, right?

"Maybe you've already lost it," Karkat growls.

You just grin in response.

"We gonna be talking about water snakes of the great deep all day, or what?" Dave says, breaking into the conversation.

"What other oh-so-brilliant conversation would you like us to bring up?" Karkat glares at him.

He lifts a hand casually in a half-shrug. "… How about we make small-talk about the weather? You know, like, oh it's pretty today! Really nice warm weather we're having."

"Yeah, being the dumb human that you are, this is the perfect kind of environment for you," Karkat growls. "If you haven't fucking forgotten, I'm a troll and the last thing I'd like to discuss is how lovely the warmth is that the glowing ball of lava-riddled hate is radiating down on us."

"What are you doing acting like a nomad and wandering around anyway?" Dave asked. "I thought you'd prefer the quiet and non-sun rays of the cavernous mountain."

"I thought I'd make a change and waltz around out here murdering terrorbeasts for fun," Karkat spat. "What do you think I'm doing?"

You just watch this semi-fight break out all over again with a small sigh. It's like watching a ping-pong match. Look to the right, look to the left. Oh, is the point going to go to him, or will it be going to his competitor?

"Maybe you decided to be the greatest warrior of all troll time?"

"No! I fucking didn't. I decided to leave the 'safety' of the mountains to get away for a while."

"How long have you been travelling for?" you ask.

A pause settles down upon you for a moment as Karkat turns to look at you. He suddenly appears to be looking more thoughtful and less like he's going to bite someone's head off at any moment.

"Around three, four months in your human terms, I think," he says.

"Gosh, that's quite a while. No wonder you have such great knowledge on the monsters around here," you say. You're quite tempted to include the fact that he made you panic all the more earlier when you'd ended up in a paranoia bout but, you decide to keep it to yourself. You don't really want to start up another argument between Karkat and Dave again. Besides, this was helping to pass the time. Sure, the scenery here was nice but, you wanted to see other things that you'd never seen before and this place… well, you've seen an awful lot of it already.

Karkat looks away with a shrug. "… I've just seen enough of this land to know what to look out for, that's all."

"How about you Dave?" you ask, turning to look at him. "Do you travel a lot?"

"Travel? Pff, it's my middle name. You know, just last week I hiked up the highest mountain and hitched a ride from a giant eagle that took me to a dragon's lair."

You raise an eyebrow. "Really."

"Yeah, it was the best experience of my life but, you know, there's other things to be done than just riding the winds on the back of a giant bird. Like taking a magical journey alongside you and McGrumpy, here."

"Watch it, Strider."

You try your best to stifle the bubble of laughter that rises up your throat, but you can't help it, it comes bursting out anyway. "McGrumpy," you say, after a few seconds. "Hey, you know, it really fits you Karkat."

"No, it doesn't," he says, furrowing his brow.

"Hey, you know… Now that I think about it, your name sounds like a cross between a car and a cat."

Karkat stops and stares at you with his mouth slightly open. "What the heck's a car?"

"Um, something that you ride in. But, yeah! It really fits you," you say with a grin.

"Oh my god, it does. I can just picture you as a cat, dude. Meowing and hissing at anyone who comes up to you. Scratching at your enemies with feline claws." Dave smirks.

"Beep beep, meow," you giggle.

Karkat turns so that his back is facing you both and stomps away, throwing his arms up in the air. "You know what! Why don't you two matesprits go leaping gallantly around this gogforsaken landscape of nothing without me! I'll just be sat underneath this tree over here shooting lightbeams up at the sky until something comes crashing down to earth that looks and acts relatively normal compared to you two nooks-for-brains!"

You snort in another burst of laughter but you quickly clear your throat as you see Karkat getting further and further away from you both.

"No! Wait, Karkat, come back!"

He flips you the bird.

"He's not changed a bit," Dave says.

You glance at him, then back to Karkat's fast retreating back. You go after him. "Karkat, I'm sorry. It's just… your name does remind me of those things and… No, uh, yeah, I'm sorry. Will you stay with us? Please? You know you're pretty awesome at the whole bodyguard thing." You smile at him as he glances back at you.

"… I wasn't going to leave anyway. I just want to sit over there for a while."

"Oh… Okay."

Dave catches up to the pair of you at a brisk-ish walk, his expression as stoic as before.

How does he manage that? Just… look really poker-faced. You wouldn't be able to manage that. Nope, it would be way too hard.

"We stoppin'?" Dave asks, looking from you to Karkat.

He nods. "… Just for a few minutes." He looks away, gesturing toward the crowd of silhouetted trees in the distance. "We'll head there. The most dangerous things you can find there are slitherbellies and slatherbeasts. We'll be safer there than out in the open."

A forest? That… that's pretty damn cool! You've never been inside a forest before.

Karkat flops down on the grassy floor and leans against the bark of the large crystalline tree (you can't help but stare up at it for a moment). Dave moves to take a seat a little distance away from him.

You just stay where you are, turning to look at the forest that spreads far and wide over the land. From here the trees look like they're melding together to form the bottom jaw of some huge giant that was trying to engulf the sky above in its mouth.

You wonder what those slitherbellies and slatherbeasts Karkat was talking about look like. Although, as soon as you conjure a good enough picture of them, your stomach clenches in worry. What if they were gigantic beings? Like, a slitherbelly sounded like a snake, right? But, what if it was an immense thing with toxins that could take you down in a single bite?

You shudder to think. And store those kinds of thoughts away, far, far in the depths of your mind.

Another thought comes floating to the forefront, one that actually distracts you from your worries. "So, the trolls live in the mountains but, have they ever lived anywhere else in the past?" … You ended up saying it aloud without realizing.

There's a pause and you turn to look at Karkat.

He has this odd expression on his face. "… Yeah, we used to live in hives." His voice is low, his head turned downwards.

"Hives…?"

"They… were kind of similar in some ways to the houses your kind makes but, they differed in size depending on our blood colour."

"How come you're not living in them anymore?"

Karkat's expression sours and for a moment he studies you in suspicion. You can feel his green-veiled gaze sharply on you. It's kind of unnerving.

"How come you don't know anything about this?"

You shrug. "I've been kept in the dark on a lot of stuff."

He grunts and looks away.

Dave is watching the pair of you in silence. Now leaning forward a little with one of his arms resting on his knee.

"There was a war around four sweeps ago – ten or eleven human years ago to you – it… involved your human kind trying to kill my kind. I was too young to remember much but, a lot of good trolls were killed." Karkat shifted a little where he sat and stared down at his hands.

"My bro was involved in that war," Dave said. "He never said much about it but, it seemed like it must've been hell."

"Yeah… it sounded like it was." Karkat was clenching and unclenching his fists now, his lips set in a straight line. "All of the remaining trolls had to make a run for it. They escaped to the mountains, which is where most of my kind now reside. Not long after I found out about the war I… left. I wanted some time by myself to think over a few things."

Silence falls amongst you and the others for a while after that, with you coming to sit down in between Karkat and Dave.

You rest against the crystal bark of the tree, feeling the cool smoothness of it against your neck and back. You look up, your gaze falling upon the tangle of branches for a moment, before focusing on the sky beyond them.

It… must've been horrible to realize that stuff like that had happened. You would probably have done the same as Karkat. Just… get away from everything for a while.

Still, you felt guilty due to the fact that you were glad that you hadn't stepped through that mirror onto a land rife with war. It would've made you go back the instant you stepped on through.

You chew on the corner of your lip. It was terrible that you were actually thinking things like that. You felt bad for it.

Why would anyone do such a thing?

War is stupid and horrible. It causes more conflict than it stops, and there didn't seem to be any need for it with the way Karkat had described it. So why…? Why had the people here decided to turn on the trolls and attack?

You sigh and shift a little, trying to get into a more comfortable position.

It didn't make sense.

"Hey, John."

You're brought back to Earth or Gabrium, even, quite suddenly by Dave.

He's looking at you and you can see your reflection in his shades. "You're leaning on me, dude."

"Oh, sorry." You quickly shift away, feeling a flush of embarrassment work its way upon your cheeks. How'd you even manage that? That was so stupid.

Karkat silently gets to his feet. "Let's go, already. We've been wasting enough time sitting around."

" _You_  werethe one to want to sit down in the first place," John points out.

He shrugs and starts to walk away.

You and Dave exchange a look, then get up and follow after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, but updates will be slower from here on in. I'll probably be only able to update once a week due to work. I'll still be typing away at Mirrorstuck whenever I'm able, so don't worry if it takes a while for a new chapter to pop up.


	13. ==> John: Abscond from the Storm

There’s a storm coming.

Or so Karkat tells you both.

You don’t really know whether that’s true or not. Sure, it looks dark and cloudy but, it might just be a passing bit of rain. How can he be so sure that a storm was going to hit?

But, your mind whispers, he has been journeying around way longer than you. You’ve only been around here for what, less than a week? He would obviously know whether it was going to storm a lot.

Is it really possible to be able to predict the weather like this, though? you ponder.

You don’t even know. Maybe trolls could predict the weather with their horns or something?

Pushing those kind of thoughts aside, you focus on watching where you’re walking. Twice now you’ve tripped up and you don’t want to make it thrice.

… The temperature is getting cooler now, you have to admit. And secretly you’re wishing that you’d brought along extra clothes. A sweater would be good. Maybe a few extra blankets, too.

Ever since that leaning-over-into-serious talk, Dave and Karkat had been quiet (for the most part). It was… strange, seeing as you’d kind of gotten used to the whole weird argumenty thing that they’d had going on throughout the time that Dave had joined you.

Still, you’re not complaining. It’s nice just to enjoy the scenery and the… increasing… cold. Yeah, maybe it is going to storm. You know, there’s this feeling that you get, like, static in the air. Even though you’d never been outside in a storm back at home the atmosphere still managed to seep its way inside the house. It just sat there, a clammy, expectant feeling. It was pretty much like how it felt right now.

… Yep, there wasn’t any doubt about it. It was going to storm.

As if in answer to your mental agreement, the distant sound of thunder boomed.

“Let’s quicken the pace, already!” Karkat says, glancing behind him then over to the woods (which were getting closer and closer each time you looked). “If you two were any slower you’d be going fucking backwards.”

“Well, hey, that’s just offensive to all of those that do go backwards,” Dave said.

You glance back as thunder booms again. … The sky’s looking much darker now. The clouds have become dark twisted versions of their former selves. You start to move faster.

You don’t want to be caught in the storm.

Whatever argument that Karkat and Dave might’ve been attempting to start was brought to an erupt halt by the screech of the wind. Karkat has picked up the pace and is now in the lead. Dave lengthens his stride, and you catch him taking a cursory glance over his shoulder.

As all three of you rush for cover, you feel the damp edge to the wind as it snaps at your heels.

You get to the woods just as the rain begins to pour, and you breathe a sigh of relief. God damn, is it coming down heavy.

“See what we could’ve been walking under if we’d dawdled any further?” Karkat said, gesturing to the curtain of fast-moving water.

“Yeah, we would’ve gotten drenched if we’d stayed out there any longer,” you say, walking over and sitting down underneath the shade of a tree.

Dave shrugs. “Either way we’ll still get wet. It will still come pelting over this way and shower us with water-filled gifts.”

Karkat snorted and slumped down beside you. “So, are you hinting that you’d prefer to stand out there in that, then stay here and be at least relatively dry?”

The wind howled and whistled its way through the canopy and you push yourself further back against the trunk of the tree, wrapping your arms around yourself. It’s suddenly become freezing cold.

And fuck, it isn’t just a small storm cloud that’s working its way across the land; it’s an all-out deluge!

The sky’s now a deep grey and teeming with dark clouds. Thunder and lightning flash and rumble across it, highlighting the pelting rain every few moments.

You’re already wishing that the storm would hurry up and pass on by already.

… You see something out of the corner of your eye.

You turn your head to look.

A… something. No, a shadow is standing out there in the storm.

A shiver runs down your spine, and you are damn well certain that it isn’t just from the cold.

There’s something wrong with that shadow.

What… is it?

You narrow your eyes, trying to discern any kind of detail from the thing. However, a fresh gust of wind rushes past it, and it dissolves into nothing before your very eyes.  
Wrapping your arms about your chest, you frown, still staring in the direction you were sure, for a moment, that you had just seen a freaky shadow.

… Had that been your mind playing a trick on you? Or had that really just happened?

You feel your stomach twist in a rapid flurry of worry. … Whether that thing had been real or not it hadn’t looked good. You turn to look at Dave and Karkat, who are currently involved in a quiet argument with one another.

You roll your eyes. Well, there goes that fleeting thought that they had seen it too.

The urge to ask them about it pokes at your mind but, you end up glancing back in the direction the shadow had been instead. All you can see now is a huge sheet of rain pummeling down.

There’s definitely no shadow.

… Maybe you or one of the others had cast it? Could silhouettes extend that far? But, by the shape of it, it had been standing, and when you had caught sight of it, you, Karkat and Dave had already settled down.

You bite your lip, shifting away a little until you're in closer proximity to the others.

“Hey… Is there… such thing as a shadow monster?” You turn to look at Karkat and Dave.

They both stare at you.

“No,” Karkat says. “There’s no such thing.”


	14. ==> Dave: Arise

You wake in the middle of the night; a burning sensation streaking down your spine. You sit up quickly with a groan, and place one hand against your back. … It’s never hurt this bad before.

A twinge of worry fills you momentarily and you shift, pushing your way out from your sleeping bag.

The others are still asleep - good.

Getting to your feet, you quietly move away from them. You’re not in the mood for conversation, whether sleepily mumbled or not.

The pain is so bad that you stumble. You stretch your left hand out automatically; it brushes roughly against the bark of a tree. You lean against it, uncaring of the splinters you’ve probably just accumulated.

You breathe out, glancing to the sky above.

This fucking pain… You wish it would just _leave_ and never come back.

… At least it’s quiet. Although you doubt you’ll be able to get back to sleep now, even after the pain has gone. You sigh, straightening up a little, and rest your head back against the bark. Your gaze flickers over to John, who’s laying curled up beneath a blanket surprisingly supplied to him by McGrumpyass.

… A shadow monster, huh? Maybe his eyes had been playing tricks on him. A storm was nothing like a carrot in regards to sharpening the eyesight. Not like carrots actually did anything of the sort anyway. It was just a way to get someone to eat them.

Like, hey, do you want night-vision? Well then, make sure you eat plenty of carrots, they do wonders in making you capable of super-human sightseeing feats.

You run a hand through your hair, breathing out through your nose. This… was just disorienting. Thinking about this crap when you’d just been thrown into wakefulness by the thoughtful aches and pains blooming out from your back. Why is it that you end up stocked with thoughts when you’ve not long been ripped thoughtlessly from your dreams?

You shake your head slightly, leaning a little to the left, looking away from the mini slumber party.

… Was there something following you, John and Karkat?

It was a possibility. Though, a small one. And it wasn’t a promising possibility either.

Great, paranoia on the top of all things painful. Just what you planned your morning routine to consist of, inbetween your capuccino summoned from thin-air. … God, what you’d give for a cappuccino right now.

Something rustles close by. You stiffen.

As the sound quietly echoes out into the empty air again, you pull your blade out from the Strife Deck.

You’re standing straight now, having pushed yourself away from the tree silently. You prepare yourself for whatever’s about to come rushing out of the bushes and pounce.

… Except, it doesn’t. Or at least, not in the way that you expected.

Instead, a small yellow amphibious creature comes waddling out from the shade of the trees.

You watch it with an eyebrow raised in surprise. … This was new.

The salamander cocks its head to one side to study you with a bright amber eye.

You both stare at each other for a while, and then the salamander inches back into the shadows and you’re left standing there feeling pretty damn weird. Before you can so much as turn away or shake your head however, there’s another louder rustle and suddenly a whole group of salamanders are waddling their way out into the open.

You take a few steps backwards, your eyes on the bipedal amphibians.

Some of them are… dressed. If you can call it that. They’ve wrapped blankets or towels around themselves, with one or two sporting hats of various kinds (an orange tinted salamander that’s a bit too close to you for your liking has got three stacked on top of each other).

They’re all looking at you. It’s kind of unnerving.

You end up glancing back at John and Karkat (they’re still fast asleep), then back to the strange creatures. Some of them are now peeking behind you to stare at them.

Quietly, they begin to make this odd croaky glubbing sound. And you swear that one of them just snapped open its jaws and blew out a fucking bubble.

“So,” you begin, keeping your voice as soft as possible (you don’t want to wake up the sleeping beauties now), “enjoying your morning regime?”

A few tilt their heads at you, blinking, and then they all turn to look behind them.

Another rustle, and suddenly there’s a slightly taller creature that’s just stepped out into the middle of the yellow sea of amphibians. He (well it looks like a he) looks nothing like them. His beady black eyes are on your hidden ones. His armoured skin shining just as equally black in what little light there is. With a white rumpled top-hat on his head and a cape about his shoulders, you could say he almost looks majestic. And it’s proven quickly that he’s the head-honcho of these weird yellow things as they all immediately crowd him glubbing away and patting at a sash across his chest.

You don’t know why they’re doing that, but there it is.

The head-honcho dude looks down at his subjects, then back up at you.

That sash… It’s got mayor displayed in big letters across it. Except the ‘R’ looks like it’s crudely been written in place with a red marker or something.

“You, human boy. Why are you here?” he croaks in a voice that sounds like it’s not been used in some time. He narrows his eyes.

“Enjoying the sights, you know how it is,” you reply, keeping your sights set on him as you give a subtle shrug.

He’s studying you intently, his clawed hands reaching out to touch the edges of his sash. “You are not. You were sleeping. Your human friends are sleeping.”

You feel the hint of a smirk coming on, and glance back, again, to John and Karkat. They’ve shifted in their sleep, possibly due to the noise.

“Yeah, they are, and yeah, I was.”

“Why?”

You study him for a moment in much the way he has been studying you. “Because we needed a place to rest and also a place to perform a dance to rid ourselves of the storm.”

He tilts his head up, looking past the forest’s roof and to the morning sky. “… It is gone now.”

“Yeah, it seems like the storm god was appeased by our dance.”

The armoured dude lowers his head and falls silent. Abruptly, he stretches out a hand. “Then you have done us a favour. I am Mayor Wizardly Vizier, you can call me Mayor, or WV, if you wish. And you, human boy?”

You pause for a moment, then reach out and shake his hand – it feels cold and smooth, like some kind of pebble you'd find on the beach. “Cool name. Fits with the sash. Mine’s Dave Strider.”

“And your companions?” He nods his head in their direction.

A shriek echoes through the air before you can respond, and you swiftly pivot round. You end up snorting in amusement.

One of the salamanders had been sneaking up on John throughout your and the mayor’s conversation. It must’ve done something in order to wake him up, because he’s now struggling out of the blankets twisted around his torso and staring open-mouthed at the salamander. It gurgles at him, and then bounces up and down on its feet, turning around to chatter excitedly to the others. It’s pointing at him.

He’s looking confused and more than a little scared, and you smirk. “That’s John,” you say, nodding your head towards him, “and that’s Karkat.” He’s currently stumbling to his feet muttering curse-words loudly to himself as more of the salamanders waddle forwards to join the first.

“What’s with the salamanders, anyway?” you ask.

“They’re my cohorts.”

You raise a brow, but are unable to question him further as the salamander crowd are now bearing down on John, who’s blinking at them all and trying to get to his feet unsuccessfully.

The salamanders are babbling even faster away in their weird language, a few bubbles escaping their mouths in their excitement.

“What’s wrong with them?” You glance down at WV.

He’s frowning but, that’s slowly dissolving into a more wide-eyed expression. “They’re saying that he is the human boy from myths and legends.”

“Huh?”

John is now up on his feet, with Karkat – his arms crossed - grumbling by his side.

WV rushes over to join the salamanders, pushing gently through them to get to John. Shrugging, you follow after, careful not to step on any amphibian toes.

“Hey, Dave,” John says, looking up. “What’s with the salamanders?”

“Friends of WV.”

He gives you a questioning look.

You shove your hands into your pockets. “The sash wearing dude.”

“Oh.”

“Hello, human boy John.”

“Uh, hi. W… V, is it?”

“Yes.”

“What the fuck is the meaning of this?” Karkat says, his voice raising a little higher than usual. “Why are we suddenly surrounded by sun-dripped frogfaces?”

“They’re salamanders, dude,” you say.

“Whatever the fuck they’re called,” Karkat snaps back. “Why are they here?”

You shrug. “Must’ve seen us slumbering during their morning exercises, or something.”

You look back to John.

He’s smiling down at the salamanders and shaking hands with the mayor.

You suddenly feel as if everything that’s happened up to now doesn’t matter. That it’s alright as long as you’re here alongside John, and Karkat.

You look away.


	15. ==> John: Join in the Awesome Party Feast!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand here's the next chapter of Mirrorstuck! :D Sorry it took so long, I've been typing away on assignments, of which I've had a lot of over this past month and a half. I've only been able to post up chapters for Wolf's Eyes, which I'd had finished way before this workload. Buut, hopefully, things will pick up soon after these assignments are out of the way and I'll get back into a regular routine for updates. c:
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy, lovely readers! :)

“I cannot let you stay out here. Why don’t you join us back at our village? We’ll be holding a feast tonight.”

All of the salamanders are making it difficult to actually fully concentrate on the mayor’s words. They’re all jumping up and down around you and trying to grab hold of your hands, for some reason.

“Huh?” you say, then WV’s words catch up to you. “Oh, that’d be kinda cool!” Although you’re feeling just the slightest bit awkward, what with suddenly being shoved into this kind of thing not long after you’ve woken up _and_ having all of these salamanders gabbling away around your feet. “Let me just wake up a little first, though.”

The mayor stays silent for a moment, then nods. “Very well, human boy John. I’ll wait. You know… you are most peculiar.”

You tilt your head a little with a slight frown. “Why’s that?”

“The salamanders… They seem to revere – No, never mind.” The mayor shakes his head. “I’ll save it for the feast.”

“Uh, okay?”

You have no idea what he’s talking about.

As WV walks over to talk with Karkat and Dave, something tugs at your shirt and you look down. One of the smallest of the salamanders is looking up at you with a shy smile. “Johhhm?” she says.

Did she just-? That… is adorable.

You shoo the gabbling salamanders a little further away from you so you can crouch facing the little one. “Heh, yeah. Hello, there.” You smile.

Did she pick up your name from the mayor? Or maybe from Dave or Karkat?

It doesn’t really matter. Why are you even thinking about that anyway? The way she (well, it sounds like a she) says it is so damn adorable.

“Johm!” she squeaks and wraps her tiny arms around your legs. Well, as best she can. She’s so small that your legs are practically hiding her from view.

You chuckle and shift a little. “You want a hug?” you ask her.

She makes a cute little sound in the back of her throat and nods. You smile and bend forward to scoop her up. “Come on then.”

She squeals joyously as you wrap her up in a gentle hug. “Johm, Johm!”

She is so cute!

Without warning, she wiggles out of your arms and scuttles up to rest on the top of your head. She starts patting your hair. You see a couple of bubbles float by above you. “Hair? Hair. Weird,” she says.

Despite your sudden predicament, you chuckle. Who’d have thought that diving through a mirror and into the unknown would take you through a wild ride ending with you standing in the middle of a forest surrounded by salamanders; invited to a feast; and currently, balancing a tiny salamander on your head. It’s just… so surreal. Although, you’d pretty much established that during the time that you were chased by a monster and previously half-drowned and spat out in a different location by a whirlpool.

You sigh, reaching down to wrap up your blanket, feeling a slight tug on your hair as the little salamander tries to keep her balance. She’s giggling away, blowing a further stream of bubbles which float about near your head.

You freeze, set in a half-crouch.

… Wait, so, not only are there talking cats but, salamanders too. And they can blow bubbles.

You stare at the ground for a moment, then grin. That… is awesome!

You tidy the blanket away into your Sylladex (much to the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ of the salamanders) and head over to join Dave and Karkat, who are currently busy talking in undertones-ish over by a big tree.

“What’s up?” you ask, pausing a little ways from them.

Karkat glances at you, then does a double-take, frowning up at your giggling companion. “… You have a frogface on your head.”

“Oh, no! I have?! I didn’t even notice,” you say, rolling your eyes.

He huffs and crosses his arms across his chest with a sour look.

“We’ve just been discussing how best to fry a salamander,” Dave says, much to the horror of your salamander friend, who squeaks loudly.

You frown. “I hope not. They’re pretty cool.”

“Pfft, no. Karkat’s just being pissy about the whole going to their village thing.”

Karkat glares daggers at Dave. “We can’t trust them. Especially if we don’t know what they are.”

“Right. I’m sure small yellow amphibians and a guy half the size of us can hurt us in any way.”

“Well then, you don’t know the true dangers of this fucking place.”

“What? The forest in general? I thought you’d said it’d be fine.”

“Well yeah but I didn’t mean that, I meant –“

“Would you two shut up?” you say, crossing your arms. “If they’d wanted to kill us, they would’ve done so by now, right?”

Karkat studies you for a moment, then scowls. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just don’t come leaking your human waterworks all over me if they try to poison us, or something.”

You snort and share a look with Dave. “Yeah, we won’t, don’t worry.”

“Are you ready to go, human friends?” WV asks, walking over to join you.

You nod. “Yup, I’m pretty much wide awake now, heh.”

Dave gestures forward. “Lead the way, oh mighty Mayor.”

Karkat just quietly grumbles as WV nods and takes the lead. The crowd of salamanders all come surging forward forming a wide circle around you all. The little salamander gurgles excitedly, still perched upon your head. She seems to have made a home in your hair, and since it’s messy already (you’ve never been able to get it to stay straight), you don’t mind. In fact, it’s kinda weirdly relaxing, (no not the hair thing, the group thing) like you’re with a large group of friends. Which, you guess you kind of are.

Heh, you haven’t really let yourself linger on these kind of thoughts before. Never allowed out of the house and out of sight of your dad, you didn’t exactly have friends. Maybe the few kinds of people you’ve talked to on the Internet in the past were kind of that, and probably the few random visits you’ve had from Dad’s cohorts from work too but, you’ve never had actual friends around your age that you could physically see and physically talk to.

It was… nice. Fantastic, and all kinds of awesome really.

Despite all of the mishaps that have happened since your arrival here; you feel like jumping into the mirror had been the right decision, since, otherwise, you would never have met up with Dave and Karkat and Rose (as you think of her, a slight twinge of worry works its way into your gut; you hope she’s alright).

Soon, the passing greens of trees and bushes are pushed further out, leaving larger and larger room for all of your group to travel through. You notice how it’s never truly dark here, that there’s always a hint of sunshine beams dancing through the foliage.

Here, you don’t feel scared. There’s a sense of peace in these woods and the general outlook of it makes you feel safe.

Here, you feel free.

“Here we are,” WV says suddenly, coming to a stop. “Our village.”

You feel your mouth drop open in awe.

Out of anything you had expected, it wasn’t this.

Light shines down upon a large, large village lined with well-made cottages that quietly give off a faint bluish glow. Upon each roof odd cerulean mushrooms grow skywards, their tops emanating the same illumination as the cottages themselves. Little pathways streak through the centre of the settlement, the damp earth tramped down by many small feet over the years.

“Let us go, human friends,” WV says. “The feast awaits.”

He strolls forward, his surge of yellow companions following him in his wake.

Your little clinger-on squeaks and pats at your head. “Down, down Johm! Down!”

Smiling, you carefully lift her off of her perch and set her on the ground. She opens her maw and a pair of large bubbles escape it. “Go, go!” she says, bouncing up and down and pointing after the others, as your eyes wander back to the shining mushrooms encircling the village.

“Uh, yeah. I’m going.” You’d got so caught up in your awe over this place that you were pretty much blocking out everything else around you. Now Dave and Karkat are looking at you as if they’d been waiting for some kind of response. Pfft, they probably had. Oops.

“Sorry, got sidetracked by the glowiness and stuff,” you say.

Dave smirks and Karkat heaves a sigh. “Let’s just get going,” he growls, grabbing hold of you and tugging you along in his wake.

“Hey!” you squeak indignantly. “I can walk just fine on my own.”

“Then do it instead of staring slack-faced at the ‘glowiness’ of this stretch of mushroom-riddled hives, then,” Karkat says, letting go and marching off ahead of you.

“He’s in a grump because he thinks that this is all a trick concocted by the mayor to get us to trust him,” Dave says, smirking. “The next thing you know, we’ll be plopped in a pot to simmer while they’re all laughing around us.”

You snort and flash him a grin. “If it came to that, I’d fling all of the hot water around and then add hot chilli sauce to the soup.”

“Johm, Johm. Hurry, Johm!” the little salamander says, rushing back to tug at your trouser leg.

“Alright, I’m going, I’m going.” You head down to the village, being careful not to step on the small salamander as she races around your feet as you go. With his hands shoved in his pockets, Dave tags along by your side.

You can’t help but continue to stare at the slightly glowing cottages as you go past them. It’s like something out of a sci-fi film, you wind up thinking.

The crowd of salamanders are hurrying along ahead, and you just follow after them. You’re pretty sure that your little followee would take you in the right direction if you lost sight of the yellow crowd but, you don’t think it’ll come to that. Really, the salamanders are moving pretty damn slowly. It makes you wonder whether they’re always this slow. Or maybe they’re not really that hungry… Aaand you don’t know why your mind is going down this route.

The crowd disperses, all of the salamanders breaking up into different smaller groups, and you spot Karkat waiting for you and Dave a little apart from the chattering groups.

Karkat looks at you with a frown. “You took your time.”

“It’s your fault for racing ahead, you know,” you tell him, sticking your tongue out with a small laugh.

He huffs and looks away.

Within the middle of the clearing, a huge table sits, decorated with a mass of glowing mushrooms and laid out with an assortment of food.

“You are welcome to sit wherever you please, human friends,” WV says, spreading his arms out wide. “… My cohorts will wait. They can get a bit… pushy when it comes to finding their own seats.”

Dave shrugged and went to take a seat, not long afterwards, you sat down beside him.

Karkat hung back, frowning at the table, then stomped over to plop down in the chair on your right.

There was a kind of large soup bowl in the middle of the table, surrounded by smaller bowls. You were immediately reminded of the human-soup pot. You glance at Dave, who smirks back. It looks like you aren’t the only one thinking that right now.

Karkat huffs loudly beside you. He shifts, then leans back in his seat, crossing his arms and scowling at the edge of the table.

WV marches over and takes a seat at the very end of the left-side of the long table and, with a shuffle of sound, the salamanders follow suit, hopping up into the crudely made wooden seats to gabble quickly to one another.

Some of the salamanders are already reaching over to grab at the bowls, however WV raised a carapaced hand. You turn a little in your seat to look at him.

“Before we begin, I’d like to bring forward an announcement.”


	16. ==> Rose: Return Home

The flash of green momentarily blinds you. It is sudden, yet expected, and you have to blink a few times over before the aftermath of the glare begins to fade.

“Thank you, Becquerel,” you say, reaching forward to pet him. He lets loose a quiet huff of noise, then moves away to begin sniffing around the room.

The relief of knowing that John was alive and well still lingers; blending subtly with your contemplative state of mind. After the events coupled with a certain intriguing conversation between Jade and David (which came as a bit of a shock, as you have seen neither sight nor sound of him in a particularly prolonged amount of time), it has made you wonder… How long has it been since you’ve last heard from David? At least a year, maybe more.

Ever since _that_ incident it was as if he had fallen off of the face of the map. Turning his back on everyone except for those that insist on keeping contact. If only you had known sooner that Jade had formed a mentally bound link with David, then you might have been capable of finding some solace knowing that he was still alive and well.

Breathing out a quiet sigh, you walk over to the couch and sit down.

You know now, at least, that he is well and, surprisingly enough, in the company of John. What that could possibly spell out, you don’t know. But right now, you feel the weariness of the past few days catching up to you.

Leaning back against the backrest, you watch as Bec trots about the room; his claws tapping away against the smooth surface of the tiled floor. It reminds you, quite abruptly, why it is that you are not a devotee of the canids. They never seem to settle down.

It’s at that moment that Jaspers deemed it the best of times to come waltzing on in. He takes one look at Bec and arches his back, hissing like a heated teapot.

You quickly get to your feet and step between the two. “No, Jaspers. Becquerel, at this moment in time, is a guest. You should treat him as such.”

“He smells,” Jaspers bluntly says.

“He is a momentary caller,” you answer. At which he huffs, loudly, and turns his back, sauntering off up the stairs.

As soon as he’s gone, you sigh.

Grumpy creature. It’s a possibility it is due to the fact that he’s been short of his daily income of fish. Although, that is through no fault of your own.

Besides, you cannot let Becquerel leave just yet. Despite his current meandering behavior. You have a muted sense of foreboding, and you are certain that Bec can sense it.

And just like that, your weariness evaporates.

You close your eyes for a brief time, remaining where you are. Jade had explained the situation regarding the Denizens; one which you had speculated for a while.

It is only a matter of time before these actions will be set in motion. The cogs of fate sent spinning in a direction that you yourself, as of current, cannot predict. What events could possibly transpire from the awakening of the slumbering watchers? What could come of it?

You do not know. And… it leaves you somewhat frustrated.

This is not the only time that this particular feeling has occurred, however. Similar predicaments have eluded your grasp in the past but, this particular predicament seems more _vast_.

You find yourself pacing about before you even fully realize that you are doing it.

… It’s a dilemma. A vexation.

And yet, you do not know how to access it; see the dilemma for yourself so that you are at least marginally prepared for its coming.

However, that specific thought process does not seem to be a realistic prospect. You wrap your hand about your opposite wrist.

And that’s when the premonition hits.

You stagger, the scream of pain roving through your mind like a thousand pinpricks of a hornet’s stings. Your vision dissolves into darkness.

You are standing amongst shadows. There are many; an army of them.

One stands separate from the rest.

An expressionless face lifts, hollow eyes settling upon your own. Then it is gone. The pieces whipped away by a non-existant wind.

In the shadow’s place stands John, looking out at something that you yourself cannot see. His expression is one of fear, yet his jaw is set in determination, his brow slowly furrowing; his eyes glowing bright.

The imagery is ripped away from you in a blur.

A loud, piercing cry reverberates through you, slashing at your mind. Then it ends. Turquoise-green momentarily filling your vision.

You gasp for air, feeling as though you have just delved into the deepest parts of ocean; just now coming up to the surface to draw your first breath.

Becquerel whines, padding over to gently brush against you. Despite the heavy layer of fur that conceals his eyes, you can feel them locked upon you. You stay where you are, momentarily lost in the vision you have been sent.

Slowly, you close your eyes. You only open them again when Bec softly barks. “The forewarning was right. There is something wrong.” You turn to look down at Bec. “I’ll be writing a letter to Jade, will you send it to her once it is done?”

He wags his tail and emits a whoof of air.

You nod, already searching through your Xedyllas for the two objects you need. Carefully extracting them from their place of rest, you grab them before they can fall, then move and set them down on the table. You feel a surge of energy derived from the premonition. There is no way that you will be capable of sitting down in this state of mind.

Flipping the envelope open, and extracting the paper within, you pick up your pen and begin to write.

There is a great sense of pain and danger behind this vision. Of something yet to come.

And yet, despite the warning, you don’t know what it means.


	17. ==> John: Listen and Learn... Maybe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait!
> 
> The next few chapters will be much longer than this one, so they may take a while, just to let y'all know.

“An announcement regarding an ancient tale.”

“An ancient tale?” you find yourself saying aloud, leaning forward in your seat. Did this have something to do with the salamanders revering something – or whatever it was that WV had said – earlier on?

The salamanders have all fallen silent; all turning to look at the Mayor.

“A long time ago it was depicted that a Warrior of Zephyr arrived within this land. With his arrival came the downfall of the brute that had bound the inhabitants of this land, which had, for so long, contained them within an underground made of crystal.” WV paused for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts.

“The inhabitants rejoiced that day, finally free from the shackles that had bound them. Upon that joyous day, the Warrior of Zephyr was showered with gifts and respected with awe for his tremendous power.”

WV slowly closed his eyes, for a time, before snapping them open to stare with a curious intensity your way.

“Now, human boy John, I will tell you the reasons why you are so peculiar.” You feel kinda uncomfortable under that gaze.

“It was foretold, by the great Typheus himself, that the Warrior of Zephyr would descend again from the stars.”

Typheus…? Who was that?

You frown as he falls silent, wondering. “But, what does that have to do with me?”

“The Warrior of Zephyr was described as a human-like youth with eyes the colour of an electric-charged sky.”

In the quiet that follows, you grin. “Wait, so, you think I’m some kinda hero because I have blue eyes?”

WV dips his head in a nod. “The salamanders believe you are the one.”

Incredulous, you snort; folding your arms and shaking your head. “You said that this warrior guy landed here ages ago, right? So it can’t possibly be me!”

“That’s… true,” WV hesitantly confesses. “But, it is strange that the salamanders are talking so highly of you and are convinced that you are this warrior of legend.”

That… is stupid. There’s no way that you’re this ‘warrior of legend’. It made no sense! Sure, you’ve got blue eyes but, that doesn’t count for much. There must be so many more other kinds of ‘warriors’ out there with the same colour eyes as you. To say that you’re a warrior… You barely even know how to fight!

You’ve only ever had showdowns with your dad, and you don’t even know how serious those’ve been.

You lean back in your chair, listening as the salamanders quiet gabble starts to ascend in volume.

WV waves a hand for them to quiet down. “Whether you choose to believe it or not; you are still our guests here, and I am now finished with my declaration. Human friends, and my salamander cohorts, you are now free to enjoy the varied foodstuffs of the feast.” He settles down in his seat and, with a few quick glances your way, the salamanders  begin to jostle each other for the food.

“That story sounded fucking stupid,” Karkat growled. “’Warrior of Zephyr’? Never heard of such a thing.”

“Could be worse,” Dave says, “they could’ve started honouring you as a king or something, John. All hail the great and awesome majesty, John of the blue-eyes.”

You snort and grin at his statement. “Yeah… it’s not that it’s… Well, no it is kind of dumb. I mean, this warrior guy must’ve been dead and gone ages ago right? And I’ve just arrived here. It’s not like I’m a native here or anything.” Yup, you gotta choose your words all careful-like. You don’t want them thinking you’re weird or something for bringing up the fact that you’re not from here. … You wouldn’t know how they’d react. Well, apart from Karkat; you’d already seen how he’d reacted to it. And it wasn’t the most inspiring thing…

He’d kind of written it off as you just messing around.

No, you’ll keep it to yourself.

The feast went by in a flash, after that. The rising noise from the salamanders overtaking the conversations you and the others could possibly have had. The food itself was… nice. There was a lot of vegetables and fruit (vegetable soup and, weirdly, fruit soup) as well as more… strange kinds of things that you’d never find yourself eating, ever (insects on sticks, ugh).

Once you’d all finished up, you pushed your chair back and stood up.

WV looked up. “You are done, human boy?”

You nod. “Yeah, thanks. It was… nice. Didn’t try the insects, though. I’m not a, er, insect-y type person.”

He nods in what you take as understanding. “That’s fine. If you wish, you can spend the night here, there are many available empty houses.”

“No, it’s fine,” you say, glancing back at the buildings (which definitely would only fit that of a salamander and not someone closer to your humanly height).  “We should be on our way.”

By this point, Dave has stood up, his hands in his pockets, whilst Karkat is leaning back against his chair, looking your way.

“You are free to come back whenever you wish, human boy John. And your friends, also,” WV says, with a small smile. “The salamanders would appreciate your visits.”

At the mention of their species, they all looked up from their meals, turning to look your way.

“Uh, yeah. I’ll come by some time.”

Karkat pushes his chair back and stands up. “Well then, let’s leave already.”

“Where will we be setting up for the night then?” Dave asks, walking over to stand beside you.

Karkat frowns up at him. “Where do you think? Back where we were before, dumbass.”

“Why shouldn’t we spend the night in one of those salamander huts? Could be fun, like we could have a rave party. Use the glowing mushrooms as rave sticks, or something,” Dave says.

“Their huts are way too small,” you say. “Besides“ - you lean closer to Dave - “the salamanders are kinda creeping me out. Have you seen the way they keep looking at me?”

Dave smirks. “Yeah, because you’re like their lord and saviour; the great warrior of Zephyr, or whatever, ridding the little yellow creatures of their foes in a blaze of glory and fame.”

Karkat’s stomping away from the pair of you, mumbling things that you’re fairly certain are about how slow you two are. Not that you care, it’s not as if you’d end up frozen in time or something never to make it to the area you’re supposed to go, while he goes traipsing through the woods back to it.

You wave at WV and the salamanders and head off after Grumpykat, with Dave walking alongside you.

That is, until you’re stopped by the rustle of leaves behind you. Looking back, you see a flash of yellow, then, in another scurry of movement, a small salamander is suddenly there, staring up at you with a small smile on its face.

“Johm!” it says, holding out its arms towards you.

“Hey, you’re that cute little salamander from before!” You crouch down and pat her gently on the head. She blows a bubble in response and wags her tail.

Dave crouches down beside you to look at the salamander. “She been following you around?”

“Seems like it,” you say, smiling down at her. “But, you should be getting back to the others now. We’re leaving.”

“No! No, don’t wanna,” she squeaks. “Stay wit’ chu.”

“What’s holding you two up!” Karkat calls. “You’re taking forever, get the fuck over here!”

You can hear him stomping on back. “Come on, already!”

“Just wait,” you say. “We’ve got a follower… Maybe we should take her back to the others.”

“Don’t wanna go back. Stay wit’ chu, Johm!”

“What’s going on? Why do we have this little gabbily lizard following us around?”

“She says that she wants to come with us,” you say.

“You want to stay with your glorious friendwarrior?” Dave asks. “The protector of all salamanders everywhere?”

The small salamander nods and hops around a few times before turning to face you and Dave again, smiling. “Yeah! Stay with Johm! Johm friend!”

Karkat’s frowning down at her, and you have the slightest inkling that he doesn’t want her following you all about.

“Everyone will be worried about you back at the village,” you tell her.

She blows a bubble in contemplation, then shakes her head. “They not. They know I’m wit’ chu!”

“What about your parents, surely they’d be worried about you?”

She twiddles her stubby fingers and looks down at the ground. “No,” she mumbles. “No parents.”

“… Oh.”

Beside you, Karkat heaves a sigh. Dave glances at him, his expression still very much poker faced.

“… If you want this salamander thing following us, fine, whatever! Do whatever you fucking like.”

The salamander blinks up at him, her gaze bright with hope.

You look down at her, thinking. Should you bring her? Is she being truthful about having no parents? … Wait, what are you even thinking? She looked entirely truthful about that! It’s not as if someone would even so much as joke about that kind of thing!

You shift a little, then reach forward and scoop her up. “You can come with us.” You smile.

“Yay! Staying with Johm! Staying with Johm’s friends!” You see a bubble go floating by you, which is soon followed by another. She’s smiling up at you. “Thank, Johm. Johm nice.”

Karkat snorts and folds his arms and Dave just shoves his hands back into his pockets. “We headin’ back?” he asks.

“Yeah, let’s head back,” you say, flashing him a smile.

Karkat rolls his eyes and turns, stomping away from the three of you.

“If she runs off, I’m not running after,” he calls over his shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah,” you reply, grinning. “She wouldn’t run away, anyway. Would you?”

“Nope!” she says happily.

“Oh! What’s your name? Never got the chance to ask before.”

“Maybe it’s Salamanderite, or Salamandroid,” Dave says.

“Casey!” she says, kicking her legs out and throwing her arms up in the air.

You blink. “Casey?” Like Con Air’s Cameron Poe’s Casey? “That. Is the best name.” This is destiny. No, fate! It can’t be a coincidence. There’s no such thing as that if Con Air references are involved.

It doesn’t take long for the three of you (well, four now, when including Casey)to make it back to the spot you first started in. Or rather, kind of ran away that time to escape the storm.

Still, being out here in the clearing is probably way better than being stuck in a tiny salamander hut. Why WV thought that you’d fit in there, you don’t know.

Karkat was already setting up the sleeping gear for the night, along with shoving all of the remaining sticks for the fire back into place for later use.

“Don’t just stand there,” he says, scowling. “Come and help me out already, you assholes.”

Dave folds his arms. “And what if we want to be spectators? Just watchin’ you doing your thing, fixin’ us lazy ‘assholes’ up for our sleep.”

“Then, I’ll just sort out my own stuff and leave you two to finish your own by yourself.”

You try to hide a smile. “You know he’s joking, right?”

“Yeah, right. You can never tell with the douchebag,” he mutters darkly.

Dave throws his arms up. “What? Can’t a guy joke around here without having some serious dick take it way too hard?”

“Shut the fuck up and help, already.”

“Yeah, Dave,” you say, nudging him. “Shut up and help.”

“Says you, just standing there, not bothering to do anything. You lazy ass,” he says, smirking.

“Wow, look! I’m helping now. Look at me helping!” You crouch beside Karkat and smooth out one of the folded blankets.

Casey hops out of your arms and looks around. “I help too!”

You glance back at her. “You sure?”

“Yup! I help Johm and friends!” She looks over at the firewood. “Help carry stuff!”

“That’s where the fire will be. Just be careful, okay?” You wouldn’t want her to start off her journey with you guys by getting hurt.

“Okay!”

“I’ll be collecting more firewood; you can tag along, if you want,” Dave says.

“Yup!” Casey says, trundling over to him.

Around an hour and something later, everything’s all set up, and good to go!

You just need to sort out the fire, though after watching Karkat for a while, you’ve noticed he’s having some trouble with it.

“Fucking light, damnit!” He rubs the two sticks furiously against each other with a snarl. There’s not so much as a spark.

You’re glad that he’s actually paying attention to where the rocks are surrounding the fire-to-be (courtesy of Dave and Casey) and not trying to unconcsiously cause a forest fire.

“Maybe you should let me do it?” you ask.

“No, I can do this myself!”

You snort in amusement and sit back to watch. “Okaay, but if you change your mind, I’ll be there to take over.” You exchange a look with Dave, who smirks.

“Not much of a fire bringer, are you?” he says. “Thought you’d be better at this.”

“I’ll bring fire right to your face in a minute,” Karkat retorts, shooting him a glare.

“Sure, if you can actually get it started, which, obviously, isn’t happening.”

“Then you try it!” he snarls, throwing the sticks on the floor and stomping off to throw himself down a small distance from you, Dave and Casey.

Dave shrugs. “Sure.” He sets himself down near the firewood and takes hold of the sticks. In a couple of minutes, he’s got the fire going.

You can’t help yourself. At Dave’s smug smirk and his glance Karkat’s way. You burst out laughing.

“That’s how to bring the fire,” Dave says, gesturing to the flames as he moves away.

“Fuck you,” Karkat growls, turning fully away from you all so all you can see is his back.

“You know… you guys should be careful of your language,” you say, still grinning. “We’ve got a young lady with us.” You gesture to Casey.

“Imma young lady,” she squeaks, hopping about.

“She shouldn’t even be here with us,” Karkat grumbles.

“Well, it’s either  that or send her back, and I’m not doing that,” you say, scooping up Casey to give her a hug.

Karkat carries on mumbling to himself under his breath.

Night falls quickly, and with it, weariness.

Casey was already curled up, fast asleep.

You pull your blankets around your shoulders, staring into the quietly crackling flames. You’re the only one awake – the others had drifted off a while ago. Taking to their own form of beds to get some sleep.

You couldn’t find it in you to settle down and rest. Your mind was in too much of a whirl, heavy with thoughts.

A hero? You? That was ridiculous.

It was just an old tale that those salamanders had passed on down throughout the generations. But, why wouldn’t it leave your head? It just kept spinning round and round, replaying over and over to you in WV’s voice.

You shake your head and tug the blankets further around your shoulders.

By your side, Casey shifts in her sleep. Then sits up, her eyes wide.

“Johm.”

“Mm?”

“Something coming.”

“What?”

She totters over to you and grabs hold of the blankets, staring out into the wilderness.

A cold shiver runs through you. You look in the direction she is.

And see a set of glowing deep blue eyes looking back at you.


End file.
